Melinda Emerson

Melinda F. Emerson, “SmallBizLady” is America’s #1 Small Business Expert. She is a media spokesperson, small business influencer, and internationally renowned keynote speaker on small business development, social selling, and content marketing.

For more than 24 years, she has been CEO of Quintessence Group. Her marketing consulting firm serves Fortune 500 brands that target the small business market. Her clients include VISA, American Express, FedEx, Verizon, Google, Chase, Microsoft, Pitney Bowes, and Xerox. She also has an online school, www.smallbizladyuniversity.com, that teaches people how to start and grow successful small businesses and learn online marketing skills.

In addition to being a former New York Times columnist, she is frequently quoted by media organizations including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Forbes, Fortune, USA Today, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC News, Entrepreneur, Inc., Essence and Black Enterprise. In 2021, HubSpot named her one of the top business coaches in America. LinkedIn named her a Top Voice for Small Business and Entrepreneurship in 2019. Forbes magazine named her the #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. Emerson is the creator and host of The Smallbizchat Podcast.

A prolific writer, Emerson has published more than 5000 articles on her blog SucceedAsYourOwnBoss.com. Her advice is widely read, reaching three million entrepreneurs each week online. She is a small business educator at heart. She has lectured at hundreds of conferences and universities, including MIT, University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, NYU, Temple University, University of Delaware, Point Park College, Chatham University, Rutgers University, Rosemont College, The Joseph Business School, Howard University, Cheyney University, Morgan State University, Delaware State University, Virginia Tech and The Emlyon Business School in Lyon, France. She is also adjunct faculty at Babson College and Drexel University.

She is the bestselling author of "Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, Revised and Expanded" (Simon and Schuster, Sept. 2021) and "Fix Your Business, a 90 Day Plan to Get Back Your Life and Reduce Chaos in Your Business."

She earned a journalism degree from Virginia Tech and holds an Executive MBA from Drexel University. She resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her amazing son JoJo.