Melissa Brown Sladden is a Bay Area native, born in Oakland, California with roots in Danville and San Francisco as well. Ms. Sladden is an attorney who has practiced civil litigation in San Francisco for over twelve years. Ms. Sladden received herJuris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law ...
Read moreMelissa Brown Sladden is a Bay Area native, born in Oakland, California with roots in Danville and San Francisco as well. Ms. Sladden is an attorney who has practiced civil litigation in San Francisco for over twelve years. Ms. Sladden received herJuris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC where she received the Dean’s Certificate and Office of Public Interest Awards for her contributions to the law school and community at large. Ms. Sladden received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Berkeley with a double major in African American Studies and Mass Communications.
Ms. Sladden is dedicated to causes that champion providing quality education to underprivileged youth; she believes in “lifting while you climb.” Ms. Sladden has long been actively involved in programs that emphasize youth and education. While at U.C. Berkeley, Ms. Sladden was on the Board of the Black Recruitment and Retention Center (“BRRC”) a student run organization designed to encourage students of color to attend and finish college. As a member of the BRRC, Ms. Sladden was a motivational speaker who traveled throughout the State of California as a motivational speaker encouraging students of color to finish high school and attend college. Ms. Sladden’s commitment to youth continued in law school where she tutored junior high school-aged recent Chinese immigrants, and served as a student-attorney in the Law Center’s Juvenile Justice Clinic. Ms. Sladden continues her dedication to youth focused programs as an attorney. Ms. Sladden worked with local attorneys to draft diversity manual for colleges and universities seeking diverse students after the passage of Proposition 209. Recently, Ms. Sladden was a mock trial coach with the Bar Association of San Francisco’s high school mock trial program, volunteered as Judge with the McCullum Youth Court program, and serves as a mentor to a U.C. Berkeley college student.
Ms. Sladden has always been an energetic community leader and organizer. She received the prestigious President’s Award from the Charles Houston Bar Association in 2005 for her work in organizing a fundraiser for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Ms. Sladden has served on the board of the Charles Houston Bar Association since 2004 and will serve as the Vice President in 2012. In addition to the Charles Houston Bar Association, Ms. Sladden is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and was a member of the Junior League of San Francisco.
Ms. Sladden is honored to be a member of the 2012 class of Emerge California, where she will be able to foster and hone her leadership skills to reach the next level of leadership in her county and state. Ms. Sladden lives with her husband in Dublin, California.