About Melissa Seipel
Melissa Seipel, PhD is a researcher, organizational consultant, and certified AuDHD coach whose work focuses on how late-diagnosed neurodivergent professionals navigate corporate environments—and how those environments can be redesigned to work with neurodivergent cognition rather than against it.
Approach
Melissa's work begins from a structural premise: most workplace difficulties experienced by neurodivergent employees are not deficits to be remediated but mismatches between cognitive architecture and organizational design. Her coaching supports neurodivergent professionals navigating neurotypical workplace expectations—not just to survive, but to operate from cognitive strength. Her consulting identifies the structures, policies, environmental design, and cultural practices that create unnecessary friction, and the changes that will reduce it.
Engagements typically begin with qualitative organizational assessment grounded in research methodologies developed during her doctoral work, followed by policy and accommodations strategy informed by ADA frameworks and disability inclusion best practices.
Specialized Expertise
Certified AuDHD Coach
Melissa is certified through ADHD Works (UK), one of the first programs offering AuDHD-specific coach training, with CPD accreditation.
Lived Experience
As a late-diagnosed AuDHD professional whose career spanned global creative leadership roles in corporate organizations, Melissa brings firsthand understanding of the costs and capabilities that shape identity development and performance in professional workplaces. This experience grounds her research and informs her consulting practice.
Research Methodology
Melissa's dissertation introduced a transparent protocol for AI-assisted qualitative analysis using API-based workflows to process complex research data, extract metadata, and identify thematic patterns across hundreds of sources. The methodology preserves interpretive depth and intellectual ownership while demonstrating how generative AI can rigorously support—not replace—qualitative analysis.
Professional Background
Before founding MindSet Org Design, Melissa spent 20+ years in creative agencies and global corporate workplaces, most recently as Global Creative Director at a major food manufacturing organization. She has led brand integration during post-acquisition transitions, built and managed global creative teams, and integrated generative AI tools into enterprise creative workflows. Earlier roles spanned agency marketing, pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods, and creative sector organizations.
This background informs her consulting work through direct understanding of how senior leadership decisions shape the conditions neurodivergent employees navigate—and where intervention is most effective.
Earlier academic work includes participatory action research on cultural identity integration during mergers and acquisitions, and additional research on post-acquisition branding. This M&A research informs her consulting approach to organizational change and transition periods, when accommodations infrastructure and neurodivergent employee experience are most vulnerable.
Education + Credentials
PhD, Business Psychology — The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
MS, Organizational Development — Edgewood College
BFA — University of Wisconsin
Certified AuDHD Coach — ADHD Works (CPD-Accredited)
