Melissa Ludin is the Statewide Coalition and Relations Advocate for the ACLU of Wisconsin, where she has almost eight years building relationships, strengthening coalitions, developing leaders, and advancing criminal legal reform efforts across Wisconsin. A mother of four boys, homeowner, advocate, trainer, mentor, and founder of Melissa Ludin LLC, she is recognized as a trusted and credible leader who brings lived experience, strategy, and a deeply human-centered approach to her work.

Melissa’s leadership journey began after returning home from incarceration in 2007. One of her first jobs was as a weight-loss and fitness coach, where she transformed the health, fitness, discipline, and wellness practices she had developed while incarcerated into tools to help others achieve their goals. That experience helped shape a lifelong passion for coaching, mentoring, holistic health, and the connection between mind, body, and spirit.

In 2010, Melissa co-created a peer support group for women returning home from prison, providing connection, encouragement, and access to resources. In 2016, she joined Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO), where she was later nominated to serve as the organization's first board president. Through EXPO, Melissa helped strengthen governance, organizational structures, leadership development, training, and opportunities for directly impacted people to lead.

Melissa also co-founded the FREE Campaign, the first campaign in Wisconsin dedicated to educating and advocating around the experiences and needs of directly impacted women while intentionally building their leadership. FREE created opportunities for formerly incarcerated and directly impacted women to strengthen their leadership skills, advocate for themselves and their communities, and bring their lived expertise into conversations and decisions about Wisconsin’s criminal legal system. FREE has since grown from a campaign into its own organization, where Melissa continues to serve as a member of the Board of Directors.

Her coalition-building experience continued as an advisory member during the creation of Justice Forward Wisconsin. Today, Melissa serves on its Executive Committee, chairs the Governance Committee, and co-chairs the Training and Development Committee. Across EXPO, FREE, Justice Forward Wisconsin, and the ACLU of Wisconsin, Melissa has developed a particular strength in helping turn ideas and relationships into sustainable structures, bringing together people, strategy, governance, training, systems, and lived experience. Melissa previously served as an appointed member of the Outagamie County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and is currently awaiting reappointment. She is a trained restorative practice circle keeper, peer support specialist, and member of the National Solitary Confinement Survivors Network. Restorative practices are deeply personal to Melissa. Shortly after returning home, she had the opportunity to make amends with the person she had harmed. The experience strengthened her belief in accountability, listening, repair, healing, and forgiveness, and continues to influence how she approaches leadership and conflict today.

Melissa has returned to Wisconsin correctional institutions to speak with men and women at Fox Lake Correctional Institution, Wisconsin Resource Center, and Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center, sharing hope, encouragement, and lessons from her own journey. She currently provides Know Your Rights trainings at the Milwaukee Reintegration Center for people preparing to return to their communities through My Way Out's six-week program. Her approach goes beyond understanding legal rights and incorporates self-advocacy, critical thinking, emotional regulation, confidence, and personal accountability.

In 2024, Melissa was selected to participate in JustLeadershipUSA’s Leading with Conviction™ leadership program. She was one of four directly impacted leaders from Wisconsin chosen to participate in and successfully complete the program. In 2022, she was nominated by EXPO as a Most Influential Leader. She has shared her expertise as a keynote speaker, lecturer, trainer, and panelist, and her advocacy and story have been featured by USA Today, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, PBS Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Radio, TMJ4 News, Wisconsin Examiner, The Capital Times, and other media outlets.

Melissa is now entering another season of building. She is writing her first book, a memoir exploring motherhood, accountability, healing, transformation, faith, freedom, and forgiveness. Through Melissa Ludin LLC, she is expanding her work in consulting, coaching, training, leadership development, and organizational capacity building. Her longer-term vision includes offering mediation services to families navigating divorce, conflict, and co-parenting, as well as support for developing healthy co-parenting plans.

At the center of Melissa’s work is a belief that people have the capacity to grow, heal, lead, and create something different. She is passionate about building people as much as she is about building organizations and systems. Her leadership is grounded in accountability, humanity, holistic well-being, and being agile—not just resilient. Whether she is developing leaders, strengthening organizations, mentoring others, writing her story, or building something new, Melissa seeks to lead with integrity and love.