OUR TEAM
The Best Bees in the Biz
HiveMind Communications was founded by Melissa Banigan with a singular mission: Help smart people and great companies create and share beautifully written, deeply impactful stories.
We work with some of the best content creators in the business. Our global "hive" includes experts in technology, health, and science. Software, AI, blockchain, medicine, IoT (internet of things), cybersecurity, and engineering are our bread and butter. We also specialize in the intersections between technology and real estate, finance, travel and hospitality, foods of the future, education, and government — and we expertly build social impact campaigns with foundations and nonprofits. Drawing upon the expertise of specialized industry content writers, journalists, researchers, fact-checkers, and copy editors, our talent pool has worked throughout the United States, Southeast Asia, Europe, West Africa, and Central and South America. In addition to our content and editorial services, we offer project management, film production, and social media services.
The Queen Bee - Melissa Banigan
Melissa is a content strategist and project manager with over 15 years of experience working with dozens of clients, including Barclays, Arm, OSIsoft, TD Ameritrade, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, FlexShares, Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Marriott, Project Explorer, and the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). Before she branched out on her own, Melissa worked in client services and marketing at Focus Investment Group and Vidrio Financial and was the testing administrator at a New York City K–12 charter school.
Also a journalist, Melissa's work appears in The Washington Post, CNN, the BBC, NPR, The Independent, and the Chicago Tribune, among many others. She has collaborated with clients on articles that have been placed in highly visible publications such as Scientific American, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Entrepreneur, Forbes, The Next Web, AlleyWatch, and Information Week.
Melissa is also the founder and CEO of Advice Project Media, a nonprofit organization that offers journalism and filmmaking programs for youth and women in Cameroon, Guadeloupe, Peru, and the United States. Her nonprofit work focuses on gender equality and environmental justice/climate change and she has, via the Advice Project, collaborated with foundations, global nonprofits, and indigenous peoples congresses to build campaigns with real social impact. She's currently completing the Advice Project's first educational film series about the history and legacy of slavery with the support of the Guadeloupe Tourism Board. Also an author, Melissa's book, Coping with Teen Pregnancy, was released in 2019 by Rosen Publishing. Two subsequent books, Developing a Strategy for a Political Campaign and Working with the Community in a Political Campaign, were released with the same publisher in 2020.
A committed francophile, Melissa travels regularly to France and a couple of the French overseas departments to report on Franco-American and Caribbean cultures and history. A trained art historian (Columbia University), she also curates exhibitions for clients. Her last exhibition was with the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) at the Polish Consulate in NYC (in the Joseph Raphael De Lamar House).
"Melissa" is derived from the Latin term “Apis mellifera,” which means "honey-bearing bee." The name really sums up our founder: She works well with others, enjoys the buzz she gets from solving complex puzzles, creates delicious products, and stings only if truly provoked.
Senior Content Strategist - Jaimie Seaton
Jaimie Seaton has been a journalist and writer for more than 20 years and has lived and worked all over the world. She began her career in Washington, DC, in the press office of the Clinton/Gore Presidential Transition and then went on to work at the DC bureau of the Sunday Times of London. A former Newsweek correspondent in Thailand, Jaimie has edited and written for numerous publications in Africa, Asia, and the United States.
Throughout her career, Jaimie has worked with global companies to craft a variety of collateral, from scripts and speeches to internal publications and sales brochures. Senior executives of leading companies and organizations trust Jaimie to convey their message—whether in a published article or presentation or personal communications. Jaimie has created articles with business leaders that have been placed in publications including Entrepreneur, Forbes, Pacific Standard, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review. She specializes in distilling complicated subjects and messages into clear, concise prose. Former clients include Aon Consulting, Black & Veatch, Deloitte & Touche, and Mindshare.
Associate Writer - Saskia Layden
Saskia Layden is a writer from New York living abroad in Fethiye, Turkey. For the last 10 years, she has worked around the world to create content for companies working in software, facilities management, tourism, education, wellness, and fashion industries.
Saskia speaks four languages — being multilingual was essential while working with many universities and nonprofits in New York City. She was a website manager and grant-writer for the Queens College Office of Global Education Initiatives and a Brooklyn-based arts and education program called Inspire Corps. She also led a weekly creative writing group for undocumented teenage girls — together they created an anthology called The Unknown Feminist. In addition, she partnered with many programs to help lead international educational trips for youth.
Currently, Saskia creates and manages content for Alaturka Yachting & Travel, a large tourism company based in Fethiye, Turkey. She also sits on the board of Advice Project Media, a global nonprofit organization based in New York City. Recently, she edited an e-book, Ayurveda: Philosophy & Seasonal Vegan Recipes. Saskia holds an MA in International Education from NYU.
PUBLICATIONS
CLIENTS
Testimonials
I had the pleasure of working with Melissa and the client/vendor relationship we developed was full of efficiency, teamwork and open communication. Melissa worked hard to ensure each piece of content was on message and the consistency between each piece was matched. She is highly skilled at what she does and it shows that this is her true passion.
—Britt Gottlieb, Public Relations Lead at Altisource
Melissa is an excellent writer and adept content strategist with a flair for working with highly technical or scientific topics. Throughout our time working together, I've continually been impressed by her ability to spin complex ideas about everything from the human microbiome to blockchain into accessible, engaging prose. She's also a detail-oriented project manager who works assiduously to troubleshoot any problems that are keeping a project from completion. Finally, Melissa's broad vision and firm commitment to principle make her the ideal person to head up ambitious, far-sighted initiatives for any organization.
—Nathalie Lagerfeld, Former Supervisor/Current Senior Content Strategist at Walter Sands Communications
Melissa is a writer who moves adeptly among subjects and formats, as comfortable with researching and writing nuanced country and market analyses for financial clients as she is with writing reported, journalistic-style pieces of varying lengths. You can count on her, too, to communicate with you clearly throughout your collaboration and to provide deliverables on time, in ready condition. I recommend her without reservation.
—Julie Schwietert Collazo, Managing Editor at Contently
I had the pleasure of working with Melissa Banigan for almost three years in a money management firm in New York City. Melissa consistently performed on a high level, providing top quality client service by creating monthly performance commentary and presentation books for our company's funds of funds. Because of Melissa's great skills at developing both formal and collaborative relationships with clients and her acute attention to detail, I turned to her to respond to requests for proposals for the educational consulting company I work with. I have found that Melissa's freelance work is every bit as professional as when she worked a 9-5er. She asks direct questions to get started on a job, then delivers the assignment ahead of the deadline. Melissa is intelligent, capable, dedicated, and knowledgeable about marketing, editing and writing. I highly recommend Melissa for your business needs.
—Michael Bruni, Previous Marketing Director at Focus Investment Group and Vidrio Financial, and Supervisor at Scholastic, Inc.
I would highly recommend Melissa for any project involving writing, editing, or community service organization in schools and financial institutes. I don't know if there is anything I would not recommend her for! Hmmmmmm … maybe a trapeze act in the circus? Wait, even with that, I wouldn't doubt her ability.
—Dale Scott, Director of Library & Information Services and Dean of Senior Projects at Ross Global Academy