Our Team

 

MANAGEMENT

 

Melanie Lue Managing Director & Founder

Melanie Lue is the founder and Managing Director of Ground Up Collective. A South African woman of 'coloured' classification under the Apartheid regime, was active in the anti-apartheid struggle and worked in transitonal structures during the transtion to democracy. Melanie was born in Durban and grew up in Swaziland before completing her schooling and tertiary education in South Africa. She holds a BA and LLB degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and has training as a community art facilitator, yoga instructor, counsellor and trauma informed practitioner. She integrates a gender transformative approach across all her work and promotes an intersectional perspective that acknowledges the intersectionality and indivisibility of all human rights.

 

With over 35 years of experience in the social justice sector, Melanie brings a depth of practice across legal, policy, community and organisational domains. Her career has spanned gender-based violence, social and economic human rights, governance, crime and violence prevention, child protection, and criminal justice reform. She has worked throughout South Africa and holds in-country experience in Kenya, Ghana, and Namibia.

 

Melanie has worked with children, women, youth, the LGBTQIA+ community, government officials, judicial officers, police officials, local government practitioners, and civil society institutions — both locally and internationally.   Her skills encompass training and material development; facilitation and stakeholder engagement; monitoring and evaluation; research, policy, and strategy development.

 

Board of Directors

Ms Melanie Lue  Adv Kerensa Millard   Adv Devina Perumal