Melissa J. Nelson is an award-winning archivist, memory worker, educator, and community connector based in Toronto, Canada.  

Her work centres Black being and belonging in the Archives to support collective healing and liberation movements. She draws on critical and creative praxis to reimagine Archives as sites of Black joy.

Melissa works simultaneously at the community and institutional levels to transform how we understand, preserve, and activate collective memory. She has a consulting practice spanning across notable clients such as Harvard University, ARMA International, Library and Archives Canada, Association of Canadian Archivists, among others. 

Melissa is the Founder and Creative Director of the Black Memory Collective. She is also the Creator and Host of the podcast, Archives & Things. Melissa holds a Master of Information Studies from McGill University. She received a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History, with a minor in Sociology, from Carleton University.