When Melissa Daley stepped into the Montgomery County Ignite Hub to teach middle schoolers about design and coding, she wasn’t just sharing technical skills—she was witnessing a generational shift.
Melissa Daley, a seasoned IT professional with over two decades of experience, has built a career defined by resilience, self-education, and a relentless drive to be heard in male-dominated environments. Her journey began in IT support—setting up PCs, configuring email systems, and providing desktop assistance. She quickly advanced to software testing, contributing to major federal initiatives like the IRS’s first voice recognition unit. As a business systems analyst, Melissa played a pivotal role in modernizing platforms for federal agencies, nonprofits, and enterprise organizations, including Xfinity’s search and discovery remote interface powered by big data, GSA’s leasing management solution, and digital systems for the District of Columbia’s local government.
Now an innovator and thought leader, CEO, Melissa’s path has been anything but conventional. She taught herself cloud computing and coding, often filling gaps left by exclusion, and even volunteered to build payment processing systems before platforms like PayPal existed. Her career has been forged through grit, curiosity, and a refusal to be underestimated—qualities she now channels into mentoring the next generation of tech leaders.
“Growing up, there was this quiet message that girls weren’t good at math,” Melissa recalls. “Even when we were, we had to prove it twice as hard.”
That message echoed throughout her career. In rooms where she was often the only woman, Melissa had to fight to be heard. She taught herself cloud computing and coding, and even volunteered with organizations to build payment processing systems—before PayPal was a household name. Let alone her hobby is learning new emerging technologies to stay a head of the curve.
But at Ignite Hub, Melissa saw something different.
The girls she taught weren’t just participating—they were leading. Mixed-gender groups outperformed homogeneous teams in design challenges. There was less “mansplaining,” more peer acceptance, and a clear recognition that logic, critical thinking, and math aren’t gendered skills—they’re human ones.
“Watching these young girls confidently explain their design logic to their peers was emotional,” Melissa said. “It reminded me why I stayed in tech, even when it was hard.”
Her experience at Ignite Hub wasn’t just a teaching moment—it was a reflection of progress. It showed how the presence of women like Melissa, who’ve persisted in tech for decades, is reshaping the narrative for the next generation.
Despite these signs of progress, the tech industry still grapples with significant gender disparities:
Melissa’s story is a reminder that transformation isn’t just about technology—it’s about people. And when young girls see women leading in tech, they don’t just imagine a future in STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Math)—they build it.