From Silicon Valley Tech to Senior Care: A Bold Midlife Pivot | Nickell Melo
Jen Porter (00:00)
Hey, Lioness, welcome to the show, Lioness Conversations, where we help women be brave to lead with confidence and joy and to find your path to the most meaningful work of your life. I'm your host, Jen Porter, leadership and empowerment coach for ambitious and heart-centered women who are on a mission to change the world. Today, we have a very special guest. From a thriving career in Silicon Valley tech,
to founding a purpose-driven senior advisory business, Nickell Melo made a bold midlife pivot to align her work with her heart. As a certified senior advisor and owner of Oasis Senior Advisors in Greater San Jose, she now empowers families with compassionate guidance during one of life's most important and complex transitions, aging. Nickell welcome to the show.
Nickell Melo (00:54)
Thank you so much. That was such a beautiful introduction. Thank you. ⁓
Jen Porter (00:58)
you're welcome. I
think your work is so important. You know, when you and I first connected, it really spoke to me because I know how important this issue is, aging and senior care. You my family has gone through this for many, many years and people in my life, everyone is going through it in some way. And to hear your heart behind wanting to support families through these transitions.
just really spoke to me and I wanted you to share on the show. So thank you for being here.
Nickell Melo (01:29)
Thank you.
Thank you.
Jen Porter (01:33)
Was it emotional to hear?
Nickell Melo (01:35)
It was, it really was. Yeah, it was beautiful though. Thank you.
Jen Porter (01:37)
Yeah? ⁓
What was touching you?
Nickell Melo (01:42)
Just kind of hearing it out loud, you know, that I made the pivot and to really support others through this journey and just, you know, finding that passion to help navigate, I think is, and hearing that out loud was different than me reading or writing, you know, those things. So, yes, thank you.
Jen Porter (01:55)
Yes.
Yes, yes,
I'm so glad. ⁓ So the work that you do, I mean, just in getting to know you through our conversations, I know how important connection is for you, how important being concierge to help people, partnerships are extremely important for you, and that's what you're doing in this work that you've created. So tell us about the work and your mission right now.
Nickell Melo (02:17)
Yes.
Yeah, so the work is that I own a franchise. So it's a national franchise called Oasis Senior Advisors. And the work that we do is we work with adult children and their senior loved ones. And many times, especially in Silicon Valley, I find that I'm working with the seniors directly. So they're very independent. Many are coming from tech and in very high executive careers.
And I really provide a, I mean, I'm providing a free service to them to help them navigate the process. And what I do is I, I'm really like a matchmaker or real estate agent, but for senior living. So I work in Northern California, greater San Jose and have about 500 communities. But I can work all the way up to Redding if I wanted to California.
But our philosophy is that we want to, we're working closely with the communities and we want to see the communities, look, feel, touch, understand more about the communities and the culture of the community so we can communicate that to our client. And then we go on tours and handle the process from start to finish. Many times there's ⁓ also other resources that we pull in. It could be elder law attorneys. It could be like,
⁓ move declutter organizers. could be anyone who just wants like if they wanted in-home care but they want to move into assisted living where they want a companion or an additional care support provider. So there's a lot of resources that we can pull together to help make it exactly what the seniors looking for.
Jen Porter (04:14)
Wow, and this is, I'm just imagining someone coming to you and having this discussion about what their aging journey is gonna look like and how vulnerable and scary that must feel for them. Is that true?
Nickell Melo (04:30)
Mm-hmm.
Yes. When the seniors come to me directly, there's quite a few that have never heard, and I ask them all the time, like, how did you find me? And usually it's online or through a friend. once they understand the navigation process and when their eyes light up the first time they see the first senior living community and how excited they get, they're like,
Jen Porter (04:56)
Mmm.
Nickell Melo (04:59)
They're like going to college, you know, it's like the first time taking your kid to college. It looks like that. ⁓ It is. It's so amazing. And the same thing for the kids, the adult kids, they that their eyes light up as well.
Jen Porter (05:05)
Amazing. ⁓
So I'm putting it together, you are like a real estate agent in a sense because you're hearing the needs of what someone's looking for and then you're presenting, literally walking with them through the options of where they could live.
Nickell Melo (05:17)
Mm-hmm.
Yes. Yep.
Jen Porter (05:29)
And so you're getting to see their insights and their questions and how they're taking in what their life could look like if they were living there.
Nickell Melo (05:38)
And it's so important to understand the things that they love to do. ⁓ I mean, typically on a daily or a monthly average, they're doing, the communities are doing, I mean, between 30 and 50 activities a week. I mean, it's just nonstop and you don't have to participate. So many times it's called a cruise ship on land.
Jen Porter (05:43)
Hmm.
Okay. So that could
be really appealing for somebody at a certain age, but they're opting into that. They are able to make decisions for themselves at that point. If you're dealing directly with the senior.
Nickell Melo (06:12)
Mm-hmm.
Most often when I'm dealing with a senior, they're making their own choices. When I'm working with the adult children and it's coming together with the senior and helping the senior feel comfortable with the decision and making sure that they're part of the process. So they could be MCI, so mild cognitively impaired, but they're still able to make some decisions, but their children may handle the money.
and I just find that it's best. ⁓ They can still live in assisted living even though they may have some form of dementia or even Alzheimer's, ⁓ which is a misnomer. So many times the children and the adults think that the seniors think that if they have Alzheimer's they have to move to memory care, which is locked. It's locked for the protection of the seniors.
Jen Porter (07:13)
Great.
Nickell Melo (07:13)
but they don't have to move right in there. There's a lot of things that go into weighing where they move to support their needs.
Jen Porter (07:20)
So what's the most rewarding part of your work at this point?
Nickell Melo (07:24)
I would say the most rewarding is being able to find that perfect community that when I listen to the family and the adult senior, I mean the senior loved one that, you know, making sure that I'm listening to their needs and then finding them based on what I know within the Bay Area. And then seeing just, again, seeing their eyes light up and being able to have them
Jen Porter (07:37)
Mm-hmm.
Nickell Melo (07:52)
move in and then visiting them a month after and see how things are going. And that's my most rewarding is being able to go visit them after and see that we've made the right choice to help support them.
Jen Porter (08:04)
And this was really an intentional pivot that you made in your career to do something that was more meaningful and connected to your heart and your purpose.
Nickell Melo (08:13)
It really was. It really was. took some time. My husband, who also works in tech, said, take a year off and go figure it out. So I did. And the concierge was really what I was leaning towards, senior concierge. And that's how I discovered ⁓ that this role was even available, senior placement, and then within a franchise. So I did even an additional pivot.
I was going to go out on my own, not knowing that this existed and then I decided to purchase a franchise instead.
Jen Porter (08:49)
Wow. So let's go back in time and tell the story of how you got to this place. So you grew up in Idaho and what were you like as a child?
Nickell Melo (08:56)
I did, yes.
Well, I'm an only child and I am the daughter of entrepreneur parents and my mom she's just she's always been my rock and there's my kitty my rock in my whole life and she actually owns her a beauty salon and she's 84 years old today still very active and still working in her salon so
Jen Porter (09:04)
Okay.
There's your kitty.
Wow, amazing.
Nickell Melo (09:30)
Yeah, she's not working full time, but she still is in her salon, still has clients coming in. But I grew up in her salon. And so she put me to work in her salon, whether it was ⁓ combing out wigs, doing the dusting, the cleaning, and answering the phone. I was a receptionist in her salon probably when I was seven, eight years old.
Jen Porter (09:32)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Nickell Melo (09:55)
And I really got tired of being in her salon after school because that was where I had to go. We lived in the country on a farm. And so I'd always have to go to her salon. And there was a nursing home that was a block down the street. So when I was 12, I started going to the nursing home to be an activities volunteer. And the community, they picked up on it right away because I kept coming back every day after school.
And they offered me a job to be the activities director. I was 12 and I was like, whatever, what does that mean? Well, they didn't have to pay me because I could only volunteer. So yeah, it was like a win-win. They're like, we'll just have her be the director, but she's for free. Wow. So yeah, it was a win-win, but you know, I didn't remember really about that until I fast forward, you know, and I moved to
Jen Porter (10:29)
How old were you?
best deal ever for them.
Nickell Melo (10:54)
California when I was 17 and I ended up graduating college actually working at Cisco systems was where I finally got my degree working for Cisco. So I moved out 17. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah.
Jen Porter (11:06)
But yeah, I remember this, that you
left home really early and you started your tech career really early. How did that happen?
Nickell Melo (11:15)
Very early, yeah.
I think I used my receptionist skills that I used in my mom's salon and got a job in a company that no longer exists, but I still have a lot of friends from that company. And I got that first job at 18. And that I learned about stock, I learned about HR, benefits, everything in that company.
Jen Porter (11:39)
That was in Idaho,
you were living at home.
Nickell Melo (11:41)
Yeah, I was living in Idaho at 17, moved out here to California where I am in San Jose and got my first job in tech at 18. Opportunity and living in a small farm town, I really did not want to be a farmer's wife. Even though my parents were entrepreneurs, I was seeing a lot of my friends around me getting married very young and were moving away and going to college. And there were unfortunately quite a bit of drugs.
Jen Porter (11:50)
So why did you make that move?
Nickell Melo (12:12)
⁓ so, you know, living in a small town, sounds great. ⁓ but sometimes the small town, if there's not a lot to do for the children, they get involved in things because they're bored. So I didn't want to get into that. ⁓ I dabbled in like pot once or twice, but I just could see that there was just not, ⁓ a lot for kids to do. And so, and I didn't really think about college at that point. I was doing more JC, when I came to California.
But that was my goal. Junior college, yeah. Yeah, so when I came here, that was what I was doing was junior college and then working.
Jen Porter (12:41)
Junior college, you mean? Okay.
But
what was it about you that made you say, I'm going to move to California by myself?
Nickell Melo (12:56)
Well, had my mom is the youngest of 14 children and they live in Idaho and California and there happened to be an aunt and uncle that lived in San Jose, California. So it wasn't like I was going just by myself, isolated. ⁓ I did move in with them for a little bit and then moved out on my own. There used to be a paper called potpourri in San Jose when they had physical papers with classifieds in it.
Jen Porter (13:00)
Okay.
Hmm.
Okay.
Yeah.
Nickell Melo (13:24)
and I found looking for a roommate. I am a female engineer for whatever AT &T was before that. She was a female engineer and she traveled all around the world and she needed someone to watch her dog while she traveled. So that was me. So that's what I did and she took a chance on me even though I was 18. think I was almost 19 at that time. She took a chance.
Jen Porter (13:49)
Yeah.
Nickell Melo (13:53)
that I could be her roommate and I thought at that time she's so old. She's 30 years old.
Jen Porter (14:03)
I mean, that's a big age gap at that point in time.
Nickell Melo (14:06)
I know. Yeah.
Jen Porter (14:08)
That's amazing, really creative way to make it work. You you leveraged family, relatives, and then found a place on your own in a creative way where, again, you found a win-win where you were helping this woman and you were able to find a place to live and a job.
Nickell Melo (14:11)
Bye.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah,
yeah and pay my own bills and yeah it was good experience.
Jen Porter (14:31)
So.
So what was your career like in your
late teens, early 20s?
Nickell Melo (14:39)
⁓ it was fun, but I was, you know, here in San Jose and I was scared of the freeway. A lot of traffic, too much traffic. And then once I got over that fear, I met just really, really good friends that became my family. And we're still very close today. We have a really tight knit group. So this is almost, you know, I don't want to age myself, but 30 plus years.
Jen Porter (15:06)
Yeah.
Nickell Melo (15:07)
now that we've still been friends. ⁓ But it was fun going to the beach, going to do things that I never got to do in Idaho. And I thought California was all beach, but you know, it's, there's a distance between San Jose and Santa Cruz, but it's fun to get over there and still go visit the beach today.
Jen Porter (15:09)
Wow.
And so where were you working when you first moved there?
Nickell Melo (15:30)
When I first moved to San Jose, was working for a company called Comag, Incorporated. And they worked very closely with IBM and Seagate and MacStore and they were a disk manufacturer. So they had all the disks go inside like the big servers.
Jen Porter (15:45)
Okay.
And then did you move to Cisco from there?
Nickell Melo (15:53)
I moved to, I did like a catering job for a year just to try that out. And then I went to Cisco and ended up staying there two stints. I stayed first for 10 years and then I went to Juniper networks and started getting my degree at Juniper and then came back to Cisco and worked for six more years and finished my degree.
Jen Porter (16:16)
And what was your specialty at those companies?
Nickell Melo (16:18)
⁓ Partner marketing, so global partner marketing incentives.
Jen Porter (16:23)
What did that look like?
Nickell Melo (16:25)
⁓ it was really like we were teaching our resellers how to sell our products. And so I worked with, ⁓ distributors and resellers of, know, it could have been SMB or a small medium business, ⁓ enterprise or service providers. So working with like the AT &Ts of the world, and then it was mainly teaching them how to sell our products, but then also how to market. So we would provide marketing dollars to help them spend and figure out how to help them in other countries spend their funding.
Jen Porter (16:29)
Uh-huh.
So, you know, this whole podcast is about lioness, the lioness. So, feminine strength, grace, and power. And it's about being brave. And I'm just thinking about how many times you had to be brave in taking on new things, even at 12, that was brave to take on the new assignment as activities director, to move to California, to find a roommate, to find a job, to enter into an industry you probably knew nothing about.
Nickell Melo (17:25)
Thank
Jen Porter (17:25)
You had
no background in tech. So when you look back on the early part of your career, what memories do you have about having to be brave?
Nickell Melo (17:38)
⁓ I would say resilience and it's hard to be resilient all the time, right? But it's taking a step back and thinking about mostly what I've learned from my mom. She was a national examiner with her little company in Burley, Idaho.
So we would travel nationally, my friend and I would travel nationally with her to her conventions and see her on stage.
Jen Porter (18:11)
goodness. Okay, I don't know what that means. What does National Examiner mean?
Nickell Melo (18:12)
Yeah.
She was like, they used to have this cosmetology, they had this thing called the National Cosmetology Association. And so she was on the board. And so she would be a teacher and an examiner of how the students nationally did their work. Their hair and color and everything that went into that. Almost like an auditor. And then she became a state examiner. So
Jen Porter (18:23)
Okay.
⁓ almost like an auditor.
Nickell Melo (18:43)
Each state, I don't know if that still exists, but I'm pretty sure it does. Each state has an examiner, but it's an auditor that comes in and they could show up at your salon and spot check to make sure that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. so she was meticulous, but she was just truly like a born leader. She just...
Jen Porter (18:58)
So we're pretty meticulous.
Nickell Melo (19:07)
She's very, very gentle, but she can be very, very stern at the same time. And people just listen to her. So I would have to say sometimes, ⁓ my kids would probably say that, that I can be stern. And probably some of my colleagues, I don't mean to come off that way. But I mean, I think that's what I knew was with my mom, that it worked for her.
Jen Porter (19:14)
Is that like you?
Yeah.
You
Yeah.
How did you have to be resilient in the tech field?
Nickell Melo (19:40)
You know, like just I think, ⁓ I don't like the fake it till you make it. I don't like that statement. I like that, ⁓ you express yourself in a way just to show up authentic and letting people know that you don't have all the answers. Right. And you're there to sit at the table, to learn, and you will do what you need to do, you know, to get to the next step and figure it out.
Jen Porter (20:01)
Yeah.
Nickell Melo (20:07)
And so my resilience is it may take me more time to get the work done, but through partnerships and just asking questions, and sometimes it's really hard to ask questions. And my thing is, is I don't want to take time up of other people. But at the same time, if people called me and said, hey, could you help me with this? I'm really happy to help. So I like to think that other people are like that too.
Jen Porter (20:25)
Okay.
Nickell Melo (20:36)
Because it's a give and a take. It's not always just give, give. You know, have to have that reciprocity to support each other. You know, I mean, that's to me what partnership is. It's not just a one-way street. I don't mind helping others. But I have to think in those terms of that what comes around goes around. And you you put good thoughts out and help others. ⁓
Jen Porter (20:43)
Mm-hmm.
Nickell Melo (21:05)
Hopefully it's kind of like in the grocery store. Like, you know, there's a lot of times that I in the grocery store and I have like a big, huge, um, shopping cart filled with stuff and I look behind me and they may have one or two items and it's like, I always let them go first. And I always think in my mind that one day that will happen, you know, like where someone will let me go and it does every now and then, but it's that give and take. It's that shared and that I believe is just true partnership.
Jen Porter (21:17)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, in my world, I call that the cycle of generosity. It comes from scripture, it comes from a story in Acts where, and it talks about the church, the ancient church, but in the, it's this idea that everybody is giving of what they do have. And then those in the community are able to take of what they don't have. And so everyone is giving and then everyone is being able to receive.
Nickell Melo (21:35)
Yes, yes, I love that.
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (22:01)
And there was no lack in that community. I think it's just this beautiful image. so I try to live that way, right? Giving of what I do have to give and receiving from others what I don't have but need.
Nickell Melo (22:01)
Yes.
It's so beautiful.
And we're all unique and we don't come with a cookie cutter and nor do we want to. And so I love that. I really love that explanation of what you said. That makes so much sense. And we're not all the same.
Jen Porter (22:21)
Yeah.
That's right, thankfully. So tell us more about your career in tech, because you made this huge pivot. So what was happening in your career that ⁓ really kept you there for so long?
Nickell Melo (22:34)
mess.
⁓ You know, I think it was just connection for me. ⁓ I loved being able to, one channel at that time was the underdog. It used to be called channels before we had really the internet. And channels was which way, how are we working, different channels, right? But it meant something different then. Our channels at that time were working with our corporate teams and working with different
areas of marketing, so it could have been global marketing or regional or America's marketing, for example, but then also working with the different types of resellers. So that was the part that I really love so much is connecting and helping them and figuring out different ways to do it. And that's what I love so much is seeing how things would come together for campaigns that we would work on together and taking one thing
from one spot like an idea and then putting it out there and seeing how it could blossom into something else. And there was one project that I love so much and I had at Cisco, we had changes with management quite a bit as within probably any tech company. And at that time I was in US channel marketing. So we were the underdogs and we kept having to teach people what channels was even within Cisco because they were
Cisco is used to selling direct, meaning that they were selling directly to the consumer or directly to the company and they didn't really want to work with channels. And so we had to think about the solution on it's better if you actually work with the channel because then we have more people out there that are selling our product on our behalf. So it's actually a benefit to us. so getting the company to understand that and the sales teams to understand that now.
it's kind of a given, but it wasn't a given at that time. And we actually had channels 101.
Jen Porter (24:51)
Got it. Yeah. And were you traveling a ton because there wasn't the ease of technology platforms like there is now.
Nickell Melo (24:59)
yeah, we traveled a bit, quite a bit, even when there was the platforms, just to be sure that we had that face to face connection. ⁓ but I remember one project that I worked on that I love so much and it was called campaign builder. And it was an opportunity when I switched management in us channels and I said, you know, this product is out of the UK and it's something that we can use in us channels, but as we grow.
it can be leveraged and even like America's challenge or we can grow it to the other countries as well. And it was like an e-vite where you go in and you put your information in and your advertising and your logos and all of that. And it was customizable. So you could actually see it go all the way through. And then it comes out as like this big, beautiful postcard or whatever it is you're doing. That is now everywhere, right? But it wasn't at that time.
It was very new to have resellers input their list, design what they wanted based on what we wanted to drive at Cisco with our messaging, our branding, and they could co-brand a little bit. And that was paid for by US. Then I moved to global channels because of that role. And it was really because my boss said yes to allowing me to work on this project.
that I moved to global channels and then to global marketing. And then we launched it globally and it became like the product that they use not only for channels, but also for direct campaigns like within Cisco, just to make it consistent and easy globally because it was all about consistency and how do we get the consistent messaging out there in a consistent format.
Jen Porter (26:50)
can see so much how your career gave you, equipped you for the work you're doing now. It's just in a completely different industry, a different space. So what were your ambitions? Let's say when you were in your early 30s, how did you envision your career playing out? Did you have specific goals that you wanted to reach a certain ⁓ title or level within the company or a different company?
Nickell Melo (26:58)
Yeah.
You know, I was nervous to get above VP because I wanted to be a director, but I was very nervous about getting above VP ⁓ or at VP because I had heard if you get to VP and say something changes or the industry changes or jobs, it's harder to find a job or stay consistent in getting a job. That was my mindset at that time.
Jen Porter (27:29)
.
Nickell Melo (27:48)
And I think it was just scared and it was fear for me. so I didn't actually make it to director ⁓ working in tech, but I felt like what I was doing in leading initiatives and partnering and connecting and I would get a lot of really positive feedback from my bosses about how do you do this nationally or internationally? And it was just building friendships and connections.
And that was enough for me. That was really enough. Like I wasn't really shooting to be director at that point, but I knew that something was missing in what I was doing.
Jen Porter (28:29)
So your sweet spot is relationships, connection, partnering, doing things together, collaboration. You're happiest when you're doing that.
Nickell Melo (28:36)
Yes, most definitely.
Yes, even planning parties or finding things to do, like unique things to do that my friends may not want to research on their own. I'm like, I found this great Airbnb in Lake Tahoe. yeah, totally, totally.
Jen Porter (28:49)
Yeah. you could be a total travel planner.
So you said something was missing. What did you start to notice?
Nickell Melo (29:00)
I started to notice that any company that I worked with, I really wanted to be that volunteer project coordinator to get our teams together to go give back.
Jen Porter (29:13)
⁓ okay.
Nickell Melo (29:14)
So whether it was Alzheimer's Association, Second Harvest, Sacred Heart, and I loved that so much and I wasn't doing enough of that for my heart, right? So that was about when I just was like, I know there, I mean it could have been under, ⁓ within benefits or HR, it just, I felt like am I in the wrong group? I don't know, it just was.
Jen Porter (29:24)
Yeah. Okay.
Nickell Melo (29:41)
the mission and the purpose wasn't aligned with what I wanted to do.
Jen Porter (29:44)
Let me pause
you there because you said something that was really beautiful. said, I wasn't giving enough for my heart.
That's so beautiful because it's an awareness, right, that there's more inside of me than I am able to give in this capacity right now. And so that was a driving force for you. So what was happening inside your heart?
Nickell Melo (29:57)
you
Yeah.
It was.
⁓ I think stifled. And I'm getting like emotional today.
Jen Porter (30:19)
Hmm. Well, yeah, because our heart, are the girl beings.
I mean, that's, that's the passion, right? That's the motivation is because we care so deeply.
Nickell Melo (30:27)
Yeah.
Yes. Yeah, I think it was just stifled. ⁓ And that's what I noticed that I really wanted to spend 80 % of that connecting in that way locally. ⁓ And then I still, of course, I wanted to get paid, right? But I had to have, I had to find that balance.
Jen Porter (30:44)
Yeah.
Hmm. So how did you see your choices at that point in your life?
Nickell Melo (30:57)
Well, I noticed that I was just, I felt like I was doing the same thing over and over. So I'd made a couple different career choices and I didn't last on my own because I'm like, no, this isn't it. It's still, I still haven't found it. And so I, and I knew that I loved Cisco. Cisco was, I just really loved working at Cisco.
and I loved the whole culture, the benefits, the things that the initiatives that they did, but were all around connection and just connecting with each other. So that was really my North Star and I need to find something like that in the way the culture is, but that fills my heart.
And they will, mean, Cisco is really wonderful about letting you almost define your own job within your job. And that's why they allowed me to be the volunteers director and the coordinator in addition to my own job, because they, they felt that that you having, that was part of the culture that they built was, that. So it's a really, really amazing company. ⁓ and it's still like that today. That's, that's really their foundational culture. So.
Jen Porter (32:01)
Okay.
That's amazing.
And
who else was in your life at that point that you were talking this through with, processing some of this and wrestling through the discomfort?
Nickell Melo (32:28)
you know, one of my, ⁓ really good friends, actually two of them that we first started working together when we were young and this whole time I've been married, you know, ⁓ and so my husband's always been a really huge supporter and, but I had, ⁓ just these friendships with two ladies that we're still very close to, like the three of us will get together. We're like the three Musketeers and we can just really talk about anything and
you know, they're both, one's a VP, one's, know, she just left a really good job and she was a senior director and she's trying to really figure out what she wants to do now in kind of this next phase of her life. And, and the VP in tech, she's wondering also, you know, what is it that I want to do? And so, and I've always looked up to them so much and we would just share great stories. So they have been really my rock, ⁓ from a corporate perspective and
coming from a technology background, but really with heart. And so I kind of would just bounce things off of them and we'd share. And now they're like coming to me and because I took this lead, I did it. And they're like, I can't believe you did it. You've been talking about it. I go, said I was going do it, but I didn't know what.
Jen Porter (33:39)
Because you did it.
Okay, so
how did you do it? Because there are so many women that I work with, that I talk to every day, who they do have something inside of them. They are feeling stuck, they're feeling disillusioned, they're feeling kind of worn out. You know, like they've done it. They've found a great deal of success. They really want to do something more meaningful. But the idea of making a significant transition
Nickell Melo (34:05)
to
Jen Porter (34:12)
feels really scary and it almost feels impossible. Right? And so that's what keeps us stuck. We stay where we are, even though we're not happy and we're not giving in the ways that we're created for, but we stay because the fear of the unknown, the like, how in the world is this going to work? So the listeners are probably thinking the same thing. Like, yeah, I've definitely thought that I have a dream, but it's like, who could do that?
Nickell Melo (34:16)
Mmm.
Jen Porter (34:39)
You know, I've got to pay the bills. A lot of the women I work with are breadwinners for their families. So tell us how you made that transition.
Nickell Melo (34:48)
Yeah, so you know when my husband just said, because I wouldn't have been able to do this, you know, without my husband. And we've lived in our home for now probably 30 years. And so we've owned this home for 30 years. you know, owning a home in San Jose for 30 years that you're, you know, your mortgage is going to be lower. And so we felt like we could do it without me having like my income for one year.
And I found this goals coach online and I kept getting her Facebook ads and I thought I'm just going to call her. And so I had a one hour session with her for free and I really just we connected just really quickly and I just believed in so much that I wanted something different, but I needed to learn more about myself and I needed some.
kind of accountability of someone to kind of get me to it. Like I could read a book, yes, and do that, but I needed something kind of just to pull me back in weekly. And so I met with, I did, I signed up with her and she actually worked full time for Coca-Cola and she took on this project because she was trying to do the same thing too, like to do something different, to be a goals coach.
And I love the fact that she had a little bit of that tech or corporate mentality in her background because we could kind of speak the same language. And she was just really helpful. Like she just helped me understand so much more about myself and the things that I love to do and more about my behavioral patterns and where those, when I start feeling a certain way, figure out where that actually came from and start connecting those dots or so.
important. she was just and but I knew when I met with her at that point that I wanted to work with seniors but I didn't know at that time even with what capacity I wanted to do that. At that time I was thinking about doing affiliate marketing ⁓ and selling products that would help seniors so it could be
Jen Porter (36:56)
Okay.
Nickell Melo (37:06)
⁓ Wundergard or there's these things called jelly drops that were developed in the UK for Alzheimer's to help them hydrate. And so was thinking about doing that, but I felt like that could still be products that I do, but I need something foundational. And so that's where I discovered the Concierge was just talking through it with her and then starting to put things together. And then I found a book on senior concierge, which then
the more I started putting things into the internet and it started bringing things up about the franchise. And like I mentioned before, I hadn't thought about a franchise and I actually had to sit down with my husband because I'm like, I can either do this on my own and do a senior concierge or I can do this franchise and this is what this looks like. And you know, it's pretty significant cost to do the franchise, but he said, ⁓
I think you should do the franchise. Like he got it right away. He goes, you have the marketing support, you have the foundational support, you have the team, so you're not by yourself. It feels like you're at corporate even though, cause you're so used to working at home anyway. So all of those things fit together and you know, I have metrics with franchise, so I have things that I have to be accountable to or you know, I'll get penalized. So that kind of felt even like corporate too.
Jen Porter (38:11)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
some
accountability.
Nickell Melo (38:32)
Yes, exactly.
Jen Porter (38:34)
It's so interesting to hear you describe that journey that you're on, because it's such a strong example of how transitions go. There's something that stirs us into wanting to make a change, even explore the possibility of a transition. And then we have to find our resources and our people that can help us on that journey. We have to learn more about ourselves. We have to get clarity, which is what the coach helped you with.
Nickell Melo (38:49)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (39:03)
And it happens all the time with my clients. The insights and the revelation, it happens in the coaching sessions. There is an illumination that happens. And to have a partner with you in it where they can help you go deeper, make that image become clearer. What do you mean by that? Okay, what is it about seniors? Okay, you mentioned a concierge thing. We might...
Nickell Melo (39:12)
Yes.
Yes, it's true.
Jen Porter (39:31)
say something in passing, but a good coach is gonna say, wait a minute, let's pause there, say more about that. And then it evolves and you do research and then you realize, my goodness, this is what my heart is crying out for, is to do this type of work. And here are two realistic ways that I could move into it.
What did it feel like when you were in the middle of exploring that?
Nickell Melo (39:58)
nervousness, ⁓ because I, I did put things out there to the, the ladies I was telling you about. And I felt like they're probably like, here she is again. Like hell's like, you know, doing this thing again, like, you know, cause I hadn't really done it yet, you know, but I didn't want to put too much out because I still was figuring it out on my own and I didn't want to be like boy cries wolf, right?
⁓ But I knew that I knew definitively the things that I wanted to do. I was, I mean, I knew in my heart that I was going to do one or the other. And so much so that how I found actually the franchise was something popped up that I didn't even know that they had franchise brokers. You know, and a franchise broker helps you figure out just kind of like what I'm doing with seniors.
Jen Porter (40:56)
Yeah.
Nickell Melo (40:57)
there's franchise broker that does that and you tell them what you're looking for and they'll help you find it. So I came to my franchise broker with the one that I had found, but I was not happy with that one because I felt like there was an arrogance. It was actually female owned and I really loved the owner, but I was very unhappy with the sales guy that I was working with because I felt like he was arrogant and I didn't want to go into.
Jen Porter (40:59)
Okay.
Nickell Melo (41:26)
a company that had that arrogance up front. So then I was kind of discouraged and I thought, is that the only one that's out there? That this type of company. And that's where I found the franchise broker and he goes, I have one for you. And it was Oasis. And it was like night and day, you know, as much as I loved so many things about the other one, that's really what led me to find Oasis Senior Advisors.
Jen Porter (41:43)
Amazing.
Yeah. And so ⁓ what is your vision for your work with Oasis Now? Where do you see this going for yourself and for the clients that you'll work with?
Nickell Melo (42:06)
Yeah, so for myself, I hired actually my first employee in the February timeframe and full circle. She was my manager at Cisco 20 years ago.
Jen Porter (42:21)
Wow!
Nickell Melo (42:23)
Yes, so she actually works the between the San Jose and the Santa Cruz. There's a big mountain here and so I get quite a few calls even though that's not really my territory, but I don't have anyone else up here in this area. So I knew that I needed someone for that territory to do the mountain areas and Santa Cruz and go down to Monterey and it was just difficult to get over there. And I had talked with her about it.
right after she retired from Cisco and at that time she wasn't ready. And so, you know, we talked again and I just said, just always think about that. And so I said, let's do it, you know? And so she's working full commission and right now I'm really helping her with the processes that corporate helped me with. I'm passing that onto her and helping her get established. And as, and she's doing commissions, so she's doing sales and really just passing kind of the reins to her and.
Jen Porter (43:09)
Okay.
Nickell Melo (43:22)
I expect in the next year that I'm going to have one more employee to start and ⁓ double what we're doing and just foundationally just working on the marketing and advertising. So leveraging what the franchise has developed. So now I'm kind of like the reseller in a way where I'm working with corporate and leveraging their baseline of what they're doing and then expanding upon that. So, and they do so much like over
Jen Porter (43:27)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Nickell Melo (43:50)
over a month, you know, they're advertising everything and all of our marketing material online. They're doing newsletter. And so I can take any of that and tweak it to make it local. And so the next step with that is I'm doing an advertising direct mail campaign where I'm co-marketing with a realtor who's also specialized in senior real estate, you know, working with seniors and
Jen Porter (44:02)
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Nickell Melo (44:16)
checking in to see how that's gonna go and then expanding that to other areas to support, just to build that more awareness and consistency.
Jen Porter (44:25)
Mm-hmm. And so how has this job stretched to you?
Nickell Melo (44:31)
⁓ professionally and personal personally or both. Yes. I would say having to come in my own to, I'm now the owner. I'm a CEO and I have to think like a CEO and push back when there's something that doesn't feel right. And I've had to do that a couple of times, ⁓ with things that were going to be very impactful.
Jen Porter (44:35)
Yes. All of it. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Nickell Melo (44:59)
and damaging if I didn't make a decision one way or another and just really believe in my heart and get facts documented and making sure that I am stern in that. I can still be soft-hearted but stern that I mean business.
Jen Porter (45:03)
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm guessing that's your lioness that shows up. Yes, yes, you're calling it stern, which I know you got from your mom, seeing her. But how else would you describe what's happening in that when you are stern and that lioness energy emerges?
Nickell Melo (45:22)
Really?
Yes.
⁓ What I don't want to happen is scare people off, right? That I want them to just come to the table and let's mean business about this and get the work done and then go have fun, right? ⁓ But that, don't know that it's stern, but I just, want people to just, that we're serious about the business. This is serious business because,
Jen Porter (45:44)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Nickell Melo (46:05)
it's taking care of seniors and I want to make sure that we're making good decisions and that we're making thorough decisions and it's not half-baked and I think that's what I want to be really thorough in that and trust not only my intuition and my resources but also one thing one of my managers told me is
Jen Porter (46:27)
Yes.
Nickell Melo (46:34)
Trust but, oh, it's what Reagan said. Now I can't even think of it. Trust but verify. Thank you. Yes. And that's it. It really is. Yes.
Jen Porter (46:38)
Trust but verify. My husband says that a lot.
Verify. Yeah.
You know, I hear you, you've used this phrase many times in this conversation is in my heart, in my heart. And so that tells me that a lot of your decision making does start with your heart, how you feel about something, your instincts, your gut. And then I also have heard you talk about data and research and numbers, statistics. So
Nickell Melo (46:52)
Mm.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (47:13)
My sense is that you combine those things to lead as a CEO.
Nickell Melo (47:20)
That's perfect. Yes. I went to a training called, I believe it's PACT. I don't know. It might be PACE, but I was the identifier. It was kind of like between the one that works with, pulls the teams together and the one that manages the research and the data.
Jen Porter (47:47)
Hmm. And they called it identifier?
Nickell Melo (47:49)
Yeah.
Something I'm to have to check on that. Yeah. But there weren't very many people in my group. But the weird thing was, is mine was so balanced across the board, I really could have sat anywhere. And the trainer said that that was unique. He didn't really see that often.
Jen Porter (47:53)
Yeah.
It's rare. Yeah,
yeah, it's rare. And so it's important to leverage those different aspects of yourself when they're needed.
Nickell Melo (48:17)
Mm-hmm, definitely.
Jen Porter (48:19)
So we talked about statistics before we came on. Can you talk about some of that when it comes to dimension Alzheimer's?
Nickell Melo (48:23)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I'd love to. So right now, just alone with, I'll give you the number of the baby boomer and it's called the silver tsunami as another term that they call it's called right now. And there are, this is really hard to believe, but there's 10,000 people every single day turning 65 in just the U.S. alone.
Jen Porter (48:53)
The silver tsunami is what they
10,000 a day, returning 65, whoa.
Nickell Melo (49:01)
Yeah, and this is baby boomers. So it's the next biggest thing because we need to be prepared to take care of, to support, to make sure that there's enough funds to take care of them, which ties into dimension Alzheimer's. So with Alzheimer's right now, I'm going to pull, think I still have that statistic up, Jen. Give me just a second.
Jen Porter (49:13)
Mm.
Right.
Sure.
Nickell Melo (49:31)
About one in nine people age 65 and older has Alzheimer's today. Almost 10%. 384 billion health and long-term care costs for people living with dementia are projected to reach 384 billion in 2025 and nearly one trillion by 2050.
Jen Porter (49:38)
Almost 10%.
Nickell Melo (50:02)
Yes, this is astounding.
The lifetime risk for Alzheimer's at age 45 is one in five for women and one in 10 for men.
Jen Porter (50:17)
Okay, so that's scary. What advice do you give to listeners who are in that category? You know, when it comes to number one, thinking about ourselves and how we are gonna age and planning for that, but also how do we care for and support our aging parents? What advice do you have?
Nickell Melo (50:31)
Mm-hmm.
Well, I think it does start with yourself first because if you're not healthy and we are the sandwich generation. the sandwich generation and yeah, it's every generation has a sandwich generation, but this is the biggest one because we are taking care of our children and many times we're juggling to manage our own. Like ours are, our role is becoming more complicated because things are getting more complex in even our day to day.
Jen Porter (50:50)
Mm-hmm.
Nickell Melo (51:12)
and then we're helping our seniors, you know, and many of us have senior parents that are, we're either dealing with this now or it's coming. And so the biggest thing that we can do is make sure that we are doing self care.
Jen Porter (51:20)
Mm-hmm.
Nickell Melo (51:29)
and self-love and the things that we know about is prevention that we can prevent and it's what we eat it's in our environment but we can we can help support that meaning that rather than getting the fast food because it's quick and easy for you and your family taking the time to prepare on Sundays for the week and having that home-cooked meal.
and that can help reduce minimizing your alcohol intake and leaning in towards more mocktails or smoothies instead. ⁓ But if there, don't remember what the statistics is on that, but we had a session last week with the Alzheimer's Association and it was exercise, increase your exercise, reduce your alcohol.
Jen Porter (52:29)
Mm-hmm.
Nickell Melo (52:30)
and reduce processed foods and try to drink out of glass rather than plastics. So the thing about the processed foods is the charcuterie is blooming. Like where everyone wants to have this thing called charcuterie. ⁓ Which yeah, I love it too, but it is all processed foods. Yeah.
Jen Porter (52:32)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
You know, my husband and I went through a health program in the last year and we changed a lot about how we eat and live and our habits. And it was for the purpose of trying to heal from some things that we're dealing with, but also to prevent Alzheimer's and dementia because it runs in my family. And so to the extent that I have control over certain things, I want to do those things.
Nickell Melo (53:15)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Jen Porter (53:21)
And there's things that I can't control, but the things that I can, I want to, because I want to give myself and him the best shot at living our senior years in a really fulfilling way.
Nickell Melo (53:29)
Yeah.
Yeah, it is so important. I'm so glad to hear that you're doing that and you've made some changes.
Jen Porter (53:42)
Yeah.
So what about how to help our aging parents? Because that's a big one that people are dealing with all around me.
Nickell Melo (53:52)
So with the aging parents, there's really two kinds that I've seen. One, they know that they have a problem and the seniors, they don't want to admit it. And so they get resistant and can be aggravated and frustrating or frustrated and lash out because they're struggling with what's going on in their brain too. So.
Jen Porter (54:12)
Yeah.
Nickell Melo (54:20)
in some moments they may be lucid and things are going well and then all of sudden in the brain something's going on in the brain and triggering. And so the way that we can help in that case is a lot of what you said earlier is reframing. So one of the worst things that we can do with our parents or senior loved ones is to say, to argue with them.
is like, no, that's not right. Or do you remember me? Or what's my name? Or you're feeling bad because they don't remember your name. That doesn't help. That escalates it. So the best that you can do is kind of reframe or reroute. if they're like, we want to go, we need to go to the grocery store and say the senior saying this, I want to go to the grocery store and I want to go now. And you could say,
Okay mom, we're gonna go in about five minutes. I just need to find my shoes. Or I need to find my scarf or whatever it is because they can relate to that, that you need to go find something. And then by the time they forget about it. So that's the reframing. But always try to go along with whatever it is. Just kind of redirect. Kind of like what you would do with your toddlers to redirect their attention somewhere else.
Jen Porter (55:21)
Yeah.
.
And how do you navigate the relationships when you're, we are talking with both the adult children and the senior who is, I don't know, know, maybe partly making the decision, but probably not fully at that point. And yet, I mean, that's just such a challenging, it's challenging for everybody. The adult kids probably don't want their parents to go through this. The adult, you know, the senior is probably used to, you know, used to being the parent, doesn't want the child.
children telling them what to do. And you're in the middle of that. How do you navigate that?
Nickell Melo (56:08)
Yeah, yeah. Yes.
It's really different for every single, just like we're all unique that we talked about earlier, that it's exactly like that for our seniors and the dynamics of the family. Sometimes you walk in and there's kids that don't even want to talk with the parents, but the parents really need help. And you're trained to get them to help and step in and they don't want to pay for it. it's too, the kids don't want to pay for it it's too expensive. And you're trained to help them understand that.
well, what options do you have? We need to really think through this. ⁓ sometimes I can be the mediator to help the kids say, you really need to come together, children, as a unified front. And this experience, it's not going to be easier, especially if you guys are fighting. We need to make sure we have a unified front with your mom and get her the help that she needs.
Jen Porter (56:54)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
You know, when I hear you talk about that, so back to the lioness energy, what occurred to me earlier when I was listening is that you, the thing that drives you is wanting to care for people well. And so when you show up, well, I'll call it, you you could call it stern, because that resonates more in your mind. I call it lioness energy. ⁓ It's,
Nickell Melo (57:36)
I know we need to think of a new word for that. Yeah, lioness. There we go.
Jen Porter (57:43)
It's out of a desire for people to be well, for something to be whole in what you're providing to a client or a partner. It's wanting people to have great choices and be able to be empowered to make great decisions for their lives and for the people that they love. So I see that as when you have to step in to that gap, it's because you care deeply.
about the people that you're serving. And that ultimately is rewarding for you. Not easy, not easy for anybody involved, but that lioness energy emerges so that you are able to step into those challenging situations and really help.
Nickell Melo (58:15)
Yes.
Not easy.
Yeah, I mean, I find that both sides of the house are looking for someone else to make the decision. They're exhausted on both sides in many cases, and they're coming to me because they need help providing that direction. And so I find that I have to kind of take that role to
Jen Porter (58:35)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nickell Melo (58:51)
step in just kind of like a mom would like, okay, we got to get these things done and we don't have a lot of time to do it and let's figure out how we're going to navigate this and here are the things that ⁓ I feel like your mom is going through. So that's one scenario. There's the other scenario where the adult children or the seniors are ready. They're ready and that they may have some MCI issues going on. so
they're forgetting the conversations that we've had. And some days they're stronger in their memory than others. So I have to be really clear on the notes, the messaging, the documentation, making sure that I'm writing good notes so that I can even refer back because I may have like five other clients. And sometimes I do, if the scenario is similar, I may get them a little mixed up in my mind and have to think about it. So.
Jen Porter (59:22)
Okay.
Nickell Melo (59:49)
But I mean, ⁓ I just feel so grateful that there is the support out there. And I love that it's a free service. And I do get every day, like, how are you giving away for free? And they're skeptical. And when they explain it, they're like, OK, well, that makes sense. And some think that there's a markup. And I go, no, it's it's flat across the board. It's exactly what you would pay. And I don't even get that much. I'm just getting a percentage of that.
Jen Porter (59:55)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
Nickell Melo (1:00:17)
but it's the free service for the family. I think my struggle is I spend a lot of time doing research and the family may not even be ready. They may get to the point and then say, ⁓ we're not actually ready to move her in. And that's just the risk I have to take.
Jen Porter (1:00:20)
Yeah
Yeah, yeah. ⁓
Uh-huh, yep. So if you were to give advice to women who are still in corporate and they, but they want to make a leap to do something really meaningful that their hearts crying out for, what would you tell them if they're in that spot?
Nickell Melo (1:01:01)
I wish I had my book down here. I purchased this book called Inner Work and to help me with just personal business, know, things that just to understand more about myself. So taking it from the things that I learned with my goals coach. So I would say just really check in with yourself. ⁓ Understanding that inner work to learn more about yourself. And that I think can be so revealing.
and also very healing because understanding more about yourself, it helps you reconnect and you can kind of reflect back over the years on when things came up at work that you felt stuck and didn't know how to get out of it and why did you feel the way you did? ⁓ And I've done that a lot where I reflect back when I start feeling kind of that what I feel like is my inner child at that point in life when I felt like that.
Jen Porter (1:01:48)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Nickell Melo (1:02:00)
and understanding what was that and why. And then being able to connect the dots I think makes a really big difference for you to then be able to move forward is learning about yourself.
Jen Porter (1:02:13)
Nikkel, that's awesome. You've done so much inner work. You've done so much work to get to this point.
Nickell Melo (1:02:19)
and I'm still doing it every day. There's things that still happen daily that I'm not gonna make the right choice every single time. And this is what I talk with my kids about. We're not perfect. We're not experts in every single tiny little detail of everything.
Jen Porter (1:02:21)
Yeah, yeah, me too.
Not even close.
Nickell Melo (1:02:43)
Yeah, and we're
going to make mistakes, but then we're going to learn from those mistakes and then move to the next and remember what we did and change it.
Jen Porter (1:02:51)
Yeah,
there's, you one of the things to get back to, how should people be thinking about their future and whether it's worth making a transition or at least exploring it. It's like, can you see yourself, if nothing changes, how satisfied will you be? If you're still in the same position in three years, how will you feel about yourself? How do you feel about life?
Nickell Melo (1:03:18)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (1:03:18)
Because when we get out of the day to day grind and we start to pull out and look ahead, that's when we can make better decisions. Do I want to be in a different role? Do I want to be doing something different with my life in three to five years? Okay, it's probably time to start exploring that now.
Nickell Melo (1:03:27)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, finding your legacy I think is important, you know.
Jen Porter (1:03:43)
Yes, yes. You know, it's interesting. I do a lot of work around legacy and it legacy doesn't typically resonate as quickly with women as it does with men is what I found. And so women aren't consumed with what kind of legacy do I want to leave behind? But what they do really care about is am I making a positive impact with my life? And am I going to feel proud about that?
Nickell Melo (1:04:07)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (1:04:09)
So it's not about making a big name for themselves and having a statue built for themselves, but it is about how they affected other people. And that is legacy.
Nickell Melo (1:04:18)
Yeah, it's,
I think so too. I really think it's like, how do you want to be remembered? And yeah, who are you helping? So one thing that I think is, and I think my husband's serious about this. So he's five years older than me and he says, well, if anything happens at work, cause there's obviously a lot of changes going on in the world. He says, I'll just come and work for you. And I'm like, I'd love that.
Jen Porter (1:04:25)
huh. Exactly.
Yeah?
Nickell Melo (1:04:48)
I love that we actually have a lot of couples that work for Oasis and I can already envision him doing that. You know, he's a great collaborator. Plus he handles the money really, really well. And I'm like, that would be so perfect. So yeah, so that could be, yeah, it could be.
Jen Porter (1:04:53)
Okay.
Yeah.
Wow, amazing. It could be.
So if people want to find out more about you and the work that you're doing, either just finding out about Oasis, finding out about franchising, finding out about how this concierge works, how does that happen? What's the best way to find out and connect with you?
Nickell Melo (1:05:21)
Yeah.
Yeah, I think do you want me to give my email or do we want to just show you my email? Okay. Yeah. Well the easiest I'll just give you my phone number. So it's 408-343-8484.
Jen Porter (1:05:34)
It's up to you. Yeah.
Okay, so they can contact you directly and ask questions. And then how would they find out about Oasis? Is there a general website that they can go to that is maybe across the nation?
Nickell Melo (1:05:46)
Mm-hmm. Take care.
Yep,
and it's OasisSeniorAdvisors.com.
Jen Porter (1:06:01)
OasisSeniorAdvisors.com. Okay, awesome.
Nickell Melo (1:06:05)
And where
national, there's 140 of us. So whatever area they're in.
Jen Porter (1:06:08)
So if you're,
I mean, Nickell is a very generous person, I can tell. So if you have some questions about, for yourself, for your aging parents, about franchising, anything, feel free to reach out to Nickell. Thank you so much for being here, for sharing your story, for your bravery, and just the way that you're giving. I love that how you have followed your heart, truly. You have listened to your heart and allowed it to lead.
and get you to this point of being able to help so many families in such a critical stage of life.
Nickell Melo (1:06:43)
Well, thank you so much what you're doing, Jen. And by chance, I just found the lioness on LinkedIn and it just spoke to me. So it's just been a delight just working with you and really enjoy it. So thank you.
Jen Porter (1:06:49)
Yeah.
I'm so thankful we're connected.
Thank you so much. Okay, until the next episode, the lioness in me sees the lioness in you.
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