Melissa Reinberg grew up in Dallas, Texas. Her background includes work as a poverty lawyer, law professor, community mediator, and teacher, all of which have given her a unique perspective from which to develop and lead Negotiation Works. Melissa received an AB from Cornell University and a JD from Harvard Law School. 

After law school, Melissa served as a Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown Law, where she represented clients in juvenile delinquency and adult criminal cases and earned an LL.M in Advocacy. She then worked as a civil legal services lawyer, first as a staff attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services Program and then as the Legal Director for the Legal Aid Society of DC, where she represented clients in family, landlord-tenant, and public benefits cases. For 17 years, Melissa taught a simulation-based Negotiation and Mediation seminar as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. And since 2002, Melissa has served as a mediator in a wide variety of legal disputes, including criminal cases and civilian police complaints through the Center for Dispute Settlement, and family, small claims, and truancy cases as a community mediator with DC Superior Court’s Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division. 

In 2017, Melissa began volunteering at Calvary Women’s Services, a transitional housing program in the Anacostia neighborhood of D.C., teaching an 8-week Negotiation Strategies program she designed specifically for the Calvary residents. The women’s reactions to the classes were compelling: as they struggled with homelessness, addiction, and mental health issues, they also reported that they found immediate applications of the negotiation strategies to their lives, such as when weighing job offers, addressing roommate issues, or making overtures to estranged family members. Melissa, feeling privileged to be a witness to the women’s restored sense of dignity, control, and productivity, taught the negotiations course several times as a volunteer and then decided to test the waters to see if individuals from other marginalized communities in the Washington, DC area would also benefit from these critical skills. From there, Negotiation Works was born.

Together with volunteer co-instructors, Melissa has led Negotiation Works’ multi-week Negotiation Strategies programs at Calvary Women’s Services, Reach Up, Georgetown University’s Pivot Program, Together We Bake, the District Alliance for Safe Housing, My Sister’s Place, Southeast Ministry, Community Family Life Services, Friends of Guest House, and the D.C. Jail.

To Melissa, the present time seems like the right moment to spread these programs throughout our society; the economic, social, and health disruptions of the pandemic add more uncertainties and pressures to individuals who are already struggling to maintain stability, and the most recent racial justice movement has created momentum for meaningful societal change. What does that momentum look like on a day-to-day basis at Negotiation Works? When class participants share their stories of how they used negotiation strategies to achieve positive outcomes in their own lives, Melissa feels a bit more confident that together, we can overcome adversity, resolve many of our differences, self-advocate to gain what we need, and — most important — build a stronger, more resilient society.

Lee Gjertsen Malone grew up in Rockville Centre, New York and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Communications. Her professional background includes a range of experiences as a nonprofit professional, writer, and editor. Lee has spent more than ten years as a volunteer for the American Red Cross, most recently as the regional sheltering program lead for the National Capital & Greater Chesapeake Region. She has opened and run disaster shelters in DC, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Oregon, North Carolina, and beyond; as a Red Cross instructor, she has taught a variety of disaster response and preparedness classes. Lee also served as the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator with Volunteer Alexandria, through which she managed emergency preparedness volunteer programs, supported court-order community service programs, developed partnerships with city agencies and community organizations, engaged in outreach efforts for historically underserved communities, and crafted newsletters and social media posts. In addition, for many years, Lee has worked as a freelance journalist, magazine feature writer, writing teacher, and book editor. She has written two children’s novels published by Simon & Schuster. 

David Schultz grew up in the Northern Virginia area and then moved to Washington DC. David has spent the majority of his career working in healthcare administration for hospitals in the DC area. While incarcerated, David took part in a number of educational programs, including the UNICOR apprenticeship program. He also completed the Paralegal Certification course through Adam State University.

David joined the Georgetown University Pivot Program for new educational and networking opportunities, and he enjoyed learning alongside individuals with similar backgrounds. While enrolled in the Pivot Program, he took the Negotiation Works class, which he found to be extremely useful for learning how to better advocate for himself and how to resolve disagreements more effectively.

During his time with Pivot, David also worked as an intern with the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice. In his internship, he helped the Douglass Project boost their social media presence, and he also conducted various research and communication projects, including projects related to funding through grants.

After completing the Pivot Program, David realized he wanted to focus his employment efforts on helping others like himself by working with a local non-profit organization. Negotiation Works was a perfect fit for him, especially since he had come to appreciate  the importance of learning new strategies for resolving conflicts and being one’s own advocate.  He believes the Negotiation Works program will have a great impact within the DMV area. With current crime rates in Washington DC at an all time high, David believes it is key to introduce people to alternative solutions to solving problems.  David is excited to be part of the Negotiation Works team and to play a significant role in giving people the tools and the skills to have more positive outcomes. He believes that teaching these alternatives to conflict resolution will not only help individual people learn how to communicate better but will also help to strengthen ties in the community as a whole.

In his free time, David enjoys swimming, watching movies, and hanging out with friends. His father and sister both currently reside in northern Virginia, and he enjoys spending time with his nieces and nephews.

Isa Salazar traces her roots back to the lively streets of Metro Manila in the Philippines. Growing up in the diverse tapestry of Manila, Isa kicked off her academic journey at Ateneo de Manila University, earning bachelor's degrees in Literature and History. This laid the groundwork for her rich understanding of human stories and historical contexts. Isa then worked in strategic communications for President Benigno Aquino, Jr.'s administration. Post-2016, Isa moved to the nonprofit sector, working with Synergeia Foundation, where she crafted learning materials for local communities in the Philippines, facilitated workshops for educators, local officials, and parents, and pushed for tangible improvements. Crossing the Pacific to American University, Isa secured a master's in International Development, diving deep into global complexities. This Stateside journey, which took place during the pandemic, brought Isa to Politics and Prose, where she managed subscription programs and played a key role in forming the Politics and Prose Workers' Union. This chapter sparked Isa’s self-reflection, propelling her toward the community focus of Negotiation Works. For Isa, this alignment isn't just about a career—it's a reflection of her core values. Excited to bring her skills to Negotiation Works, Isa remains committed to a more just world, fueled by lessons learned in Manila's peripheries and a hunger for positive change.

Dayley Katz, of Princeton, New Jersey is a sophomore studying government at Harvard who intends either to attend law school or pursue social sciences research in academia. Dayley’s experience as an advocate for LGBTQ+ youth around the country led to her decision to join Negotiation Works as an intern. 

She is eager to see how the skills Negotiation Works teaches benefit many different people and to engage with those who have learned from Negotiation Works’ courses. Dayley believes that everyone deserves to be empowered, and she is eager to work for an organization dedicated to providing empowering skills for people who are unable to get them elsewhere.

Ava Zabelski, from Mays Landing, New Jersey is a senior at Georgetown University majoring in Regional and Comparative Studies with a minor in Arabic, and a Negotiation Works 2025-2026 intern. She is also a 2025 Pelosi Scholar, National Security Language Initiative for Youth participant, and Critical Language Scholarship recipient who works for the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University during the academic year. Her goal is to work in international education, writing policy to further educational study abroad programs to give the next generation more access to language studies and increase their interest in international relations. 

Ava is excited to intern for Negotiation Works because she wants to gain hands-on experience working with the D.C. community to help others learn about conflict resolution, advocacy, and creating a stable community. She is also interested in speaking with current and past participants to ensure that Negotiation Works is providing an inclusive and helpful environment for all. Ava said Negotiation Works is important because it provides a safe learning environment for members of the community to access empowering tools and support systems to help them gain confidence in their abilities.