Michelle Y. Bess

Michelle Y. Bess is the Advisory Board Member at Sales Assembly. Michelle was previously the Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director and Marketing People Business Partner at Sprout Social, Inc. from August 2016 to August 2020.

Bess has made it their mission to increase conversion rates and the number of diverse candidates in the pipeline. Michelle has succeeded in increasing conversion rates from 24% to 49% and increasing the number of diverse candidates in the pipeline by 13%. In addition, they have increased overall staff diversity from 39% to 59%.

Bess has also created a messaging and social media strategy to keep staff engaged and up-to-date during hiring season, which has led to an increase in staff referrals from 32% to 40%. Furthermore, they co-led the Human Assets team in Diversity and Inclusion engagement in order to impact personal reflection, recruitment, hiring, and HR practices to ensure an inclusive experience for all staff.

Finally, Bess led a national effort to update hiring tools, brand messages and materials, create a social media campaign in order to equip 30 staff members to become Brand Ambassadors at the Teach of America 25th Anniversary Summit. This generated over 250 new staff referrals and increased brand awareness.

Michelle Y. Bess has a B.A. in Biology from Whitworth University and certification from CorePower Yoga in Yoga Instructor Certification - Level I. Michelle also has certification from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in Talent Management Institute and IDI, LLC in IDI Qualified Administrator. Lastly, they have a Georgetown University Executive Certificate in Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Management.