Meet The Founder

Melissa Santana, a licensed professional counselor in the Greater Cleveland area, serves survivors of interpersonal violence/trauma through an agency that provides virtual therapeutic services to its clients. She also develops and implements programs addressing critical areas, such as trauma and abuse awareness, psychoeducation, and healing for participants through her business: The Power To Be, LLC. 

 

Santana’s career highlights include her role as the inaugural bilingual Peer Education Coordinator for Planned Parenthood Greater Ohio. She facilitated a program for Spanish-speaking adult peer educators, known as Embajadores de Salud, making it the first of its kind in Ohio. As a facilitator, she trained participants to become health ambassadors in their communities, educating them on various sexual health topics, including sexual identity, healthy relationships, and communication.

 

Santana’s journey began as a secondary Spanish teacher in Detroit, Michigan. Upon returning to Cleveland, she worked as a Program Coordinator for Esperanza, Inc., supporting students on their path to post-secondary education. After Esperanza, she joined her alma mater, Hiram College, as an admission counselor for Northwest Ohio and various public schools in the Greater Cleveland area.

 

After Hiram, Santana dedicated over two years to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, providing advocacy services to survivors of sexual assault as they navigated the criminal justice system. Her commitment to advocacy led her to serve as the final Program Coordinator for the Violence Prevention and Action Center at John Carroll University. In this role, she hosted programs, presentations, and trainings on interpersonal violence prevention and advocated for students navigating the Title IX process. 

 

She is deeply passionate about advocating for important services and prevention efforts aimed at ending interpersonal violence. This passion fuels the topics she discusses on her podcast, “Santana Says,” which streams on all audio platforms and YouTube. She believes in actively contributing to creating a just world where education is equitably accessible to all and community awareness about relevant issues is raised. 

 

Santana holds a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree from Hiram College and a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from John Carroll University.

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