Melissa Beatriz (Skolnick-Noguera) is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, cultural producer, and researcher whose work focuses on the intersection of social justice, media arts/culture, and policy. She leads Actívate Stories, a collaborative that creates media for social change and engages in participatory and justice-oriented storytelling practices. She is also a co-founder of ¡Presente! Media, a Philadelphia-based collective that produces bilingual journalistic articles and documentaries.

She is a 2022 Al Día 40 Under 40 honoree, a 2020 Fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) Leadership Institute, and a 2019 Leeway Transformation Awardee.

Since 2010, Melissa has collaborated with media arts and grassroots organizations throughout Philadelphia, with roles in communications, resource mobilization, and filmmaking. Melissa has a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Pennsylvania, with a focus on macro-level policy. She is currently a joint Ph.D. candidate in Communication/Social Welfare at the Annenberg School for Communication.