Melanie Jamileh Prasad is the Legal Director and General Counsel for Jobs to Move America, where she focuses on drafting legislation, negotiating community benefits agreements, and leading JMA’s public records and related impact litigation. Prior to joining JMA in 2020, she served as a staff attorney at Legal Services of Central New York, representing low-income clients on issues such as eviction defense, language access, and employment discrimination.
Melanie received her J.D. from University of Buffalo School of Law in 2017. During that time, she worked to draft a civil rights complaint against the Buffalo Police Department, participated in a study abroad seminar on the weaponization of the environment in the conflict in the Middle East, and was chosen as a delegate to the UN Conference of Parties on the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Prior to law school, Melanie worked as an organizer for the Working Families Party where she fought alongside labor and community groups for issues such as access to democracy, just transitions, and a living wage.
Melanie is the proud first-generation American child to Persian and Indian parents. Her passion organizing and collective action started in middle school she organized her classmates into a walkout following the retaliatory firing of a teacher. Though she’ll always be a Buffalonian at heart, Melanie currently resides in Los Angeles with her partner and their furchild, Linka.