WHO IS MELISSA

Hey there, I’m Melissa Tan, and I’m an eco-conscious girl in Malaysia pursuing a zero waste life.

I was the Recycling Kid

When I was a kid, I recycled everything that I knew to be recyclable in my house.

In my teens, I worked in coffee shops and saw the amount of cumulative waste we created. It made me very uncomfortable, so I fished plastic cups out of the trash and washed them, hauling huge bags of them to the recycling centre after my shifts. But I knew it was not enough.

Then I heard about the zero waste movement, and how we can REFUSE the creation of trash in the first place.

*click* that was my lightbulb moment. There was my solution.

I’m an animal lover

A lot of my motivation for this are the animals and people that get hurt as a result of  how the modern world works in careless disregard of the environment.

When I watched videos of an animal suffering at the slaughterhouse, and then read about how vegans eat,

*click* that was my lightbulb moment. I went #meatless.

I’ve volunteered with a local animal shelter for years, but when it came to watching videos of wildlife and marine life dying, I felt powerless.

These media had an impact on me. If I helped to create it, speak about it and get it out to more people, it may impact someone else too.

I hope to spark that lightbulb in someone else, like mine was triggered all those years ago.

There is a solution. And it begins with us.

MELISSA TAN is a TV host, actress, climate activist and zero waste advocate. She writes and creates digital content on sustainable living and fashion, climate action and other areas of environmentalism on her social media and website, heymelissatan.com.

A passionate environmental speaker and a community organiser, she produces events such as Green Day Out, The Conscious Market and clothes swaps to engage the public in sustainable living.

Melissa champions grassroot efforts and impact-driven businesses, regularly collaborating with major brands, BCorps and non-profits on local and regional campaigns. She was named an Ambassador for EARTHDAY.ORG, and is a trained Climate Reality Leader and the Country Coordinator for Fashion Revolution in Malaysia. She was also selected as the only Malaysian delegate to the Antarctica Climate Expedition with Sylvia Earle.