In this episode, Diane Paddison and Melissa Harrison discuss their journey of meeting and working together to address the issue of loneliness among women leaders. They share their personal experiences of loneliness in their respective roles, and Diane shares how it led her to start 4word, a ministry that provides community and support for women leaders. Diane announces her transition to the founder role of 4word and introduces Melissa as our new executive director. They discuss the growth of 4word and their excitement for the future of the ministry.
Key Takeaways
Diane Paddison, 4word Founder and President, is a Harvard MBA, former global executive of two Fortune 500 companies, CBRE and ProLogis, and one Fortune 1000 company, Trammell Crow Company, and serves as an independent director for one corporate and four not-for-profit boards.
Diane is a leading advocate for Christian women in the workplace. Diane published Work, Love, Pray in 2011, and Be Refreshed . . . a year of devotions for women in the workplace in 2017, laying the foundation for 4word.
She authors weekly posts at 4wordwomen.org and is a featured columnist for The Washington Times and the 4word Mentor Program has been highlighted in The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch.
Diane and her husband, Chris, have four children and two grandchildren and live in Dallas, Texas.
Melissa Harrison is a bilingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience in television and radio news. She has worked as a news anchor and reporter in six different television markets including WNBC in New York City and WFAA-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth. Melissa has also worked as a writer for ABC’s World News Tonight and as a morning news anchor for CBS Radio.
Melissa founded PURE in New York City in 2004 where she served Christian women leaders through events and retreats until 2016. She also served women executives at the C-Suite level through the CEO Forum from 2021 until 2023.
Melissa is currently an Executive in Residence at SMU where she teaches Digital Media. She earned her master’s in Journalism from Columbia University and her bachelor’s in Spanish and Communications from Baylor. She also studied with Syracuse University at the Instituto Internacional in Madrid, Spain. Melissa speaks frequently at conferences and industry events across the globe including recently in Chile, Indonesia and The Philippines.
Melissa and her husband live in Dallas with their three young children.