Melissa Kaestner
Melissa Kaestner has many roots in radio and music as well as a strong passion for theatre and community.
Her radio background includes: NCRA/ANREC National Coordinator, CHUO Ottawa volunteer, CHRY Toronto Music Director, CHSR Fredericton Development Director (Fundraising, Events, Sales, Promotions, Recruitment), and WQDY Calais (Maine) Announcer/Music Director (before it was classic hits). She is currently the Executive Director (formerly Development Consultant) for the Community Radio Fund of Canada.
Music has been a part of her life since she started singing ‘Delta Dawn’ in her grandparents’ living room at the age of three. Since then she has been a singer/songwriter, playing mostly guitar. While her own recordings are hard to come by, she has helped other independent artists over the years by organizing a few regional battle of the band competitions (in the Maritimes), developing and running a national project called Dig Your Roots, and even working one-on-one with artists for tours, grants, bookings, and promotions.
Melissa discovered her love of theatre early on as well. She has acted in several high school productions and a few university productions, but her passion lies behind the scenes. She started stage managing in university and in many ways has never looked back. Melissa approaches many aspects of her life much as a stage manager approaches a show — organized, detailed-oriented, ready to call the show, and always leaving the master script at stage left for the next person to use.
Melissa lives in Ottawa, collects rocks, and lives for the journey instead of the destination.
You can contact Melissa directly at: melissa.kaestner (at) gmail (dot) com. She’s also on LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and del.icio.us.
