Melissa Ingram wanted to be a high-profile music and entertainment attorney since she was young, the BLACK ENTERPRISE reported. According to the article, the University of California, Berkeley School of Law graduate, though, did not realize that she would eventually become a high-powered cable TV executive who would “change the face of television,” according to the article.
“I was one of those kids that always sort of knew exactly what they wanted to do. I knew I wanted to go to Spelman College. I knew I wanted to take up English and then go to law school, and then practice entertainment law,” the Los Angeles native told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “I never in a million years thought that that would morph into me actually being more on the business side and doing a lot of strategic planning and vision for a cable television network.”
According to the article, Ingram propelled her career in 2004 as an associate lawyer in one of the largest law firms in the southeast, Alston & Bird, LLP in Atlanta. In 2006, she started working as an associate lawyer with The Carter Law Firm, PC in downtown Atlanta, where she legally represented independent artists, songwriters, and labels. According to the article, she also started consulting with the Gospel Music Channel before it merged into UPtv.
She joined the network full-time in 2009 as Counsel, Business and Legal Affairs and stayed at UPtv when it partnered with NBA legend and entrepreneur Earvin “Magic” Johnson to start AspireTV. According to the article, she has progressed even further at Aspire and is one of the top executives at the media company.
Her role as senior vice president of Multicultural Networks and Strategy at UP Entertainment is where the magic happens. She oversees driving the growth and success of AspireTV, Cine Romántico, and other multicultural brands from UP Entertainment through varying platforms, per the article. She aims to drive multicultural audience growth while encouraging workplace diversity.
“I’m a very spiritual person so I believe God’s plans for us when we submit to His will, is always bigger than what you can imagine.”
Ingram added that her current role gives her the chance to draw from her creativity while positively impacting the company’s brand.
“It makes me happy on a day-to-day to be able to say I have a hand in the way in which AspireTV looks, the way in which we connect, the way in which we think about our brand promise, and how we reach the Black audience,” Ingram tells BE. “The great thing is I’m able to be authentic in my leadership and bring all of my experiences as a Black woman, and as an HBCU graduate, and as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and as a member of The Links.” She added, “it’s a very powerful thing when you can show up as yourself.”
Her work lets her go above and beyond overseeing the national cable television network’s daily operations, brand, programming, marketing, and long-term strategy. According to the story, she looks at it as a chance to serve and boost women of color (the network’s primary audience) by developing content that lets Black and brown women see themselves in the uniqueness of their culture and lifestyle.
According to a study done by UP Entertainment, over 12 million Black people over 18 and up to watch lifestyle content every month. But, they don’t feel represented on mainstream networks such as HGTV and The Food Network, according to the story.
“They’re tuning in, but yet they don’t see themselves there,” says Ingram in the article, who resides in Atlanta with her husband and children. “What we found is that while Black people are watching this content, they may like it, but they would love it if they actually saw their life being reflected in it [and] they saw their culture being infused.”
To help with this gap, Aspire launched Butter + Brown, a comical culinary show executive produced by Chef G. Garvin and Issa Rae, and Unboxed with Nikki Chu, a series where the celebrity interior designer creates new home décor spaces for people such as Tank and his wife Zena Foster, Tisha Campbell, Nicole, and Boris Kodjoe, and Rodney and Holly Robinson Peete.
“I strongly believe there aren’t enough platforms dedicated to Black content. The more the merrier,” she said in the article. “When you think about HGTV, that’s where we’re going. That’s what we’re going after. We’re trying to make sure our audience sees themselves in that sort of traditional lifestyle content.”
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