Melodi Sterner

Hi! I'm Melodi. I build learning programs from the ground up, design the workflows that keep a learning team organized, and help people grow. I've done that for healthcare, SaaS, EdTech, finance, and HCM teams, for audiences ranging from physicians to brand-new contract hires.

At Elevate, a SaaS startup, I built the entire new-hire onboarding program from scratch for 200+ employees and 700+ contract educators, and brought the required training time from eight hours down to four, while improving first-day teacher readiness and confidence. Most recently, at Catalight, I built the RUBI Advanced Certification Program. I turned dense clinical manuals into 150-page course manuscripts and courses for two very different audiences: clinicians earning CE credits, and parents of autistic children.

I started in the classroom. I taught for eighteen years, and for the last eight of them I chaired a 12-person science department. I handled curriculum, budget, and professional development for the team, and I hired and mentored early-career science teachers, which was my favorite part of the job. I earned my Ed.S. in Instructional Technology while I was still teaching, then moved into corporate learning full time. You can learn more about my experience on My Resume page.

What I'm looking for: A team where I can build programs, processes, and people. I'm open to learning operations, L&D management, learning strategy, program management, and senior learning experience and instructional design roles. I do my best work where people value clear process and real collaboration, and I'm happy to be the one who sets that process up. Most of all, I'd love to find a team I can grow with.

Curious how I start a project? Take a look at the Design Jam, an intake process I built to help stakeholders get from "we need training" to a clear problem, a plan, and a way to measure it. If you have a challenge you'd like to talk through, I'd love to hear about it.

• I start with the person who'll use the training. Before I scope anything, I want to know what the learner's day looks like and where they get stuck. ADDIE, adult learning theory, and UX thinking all build on that first conversation.

• I work alongside my SMEs and build strong relationships with them. SMEs are busy, and what they know is the whole point.  We rely on each other. I make their reviews easy, and I stay with an idea until it looks like what they pictured.

• I build the process around the work. Intake, scoping frameworks, review rubrics, and design standards. I'm happiest when everyone on a team knows how a request becomes a finished course.

• I design for accessibility from the first draft. I build to WCAG 2.1 AA, ADA, and Section 508 as I go, including reading level, alt text, and captions.

• I use AI, and I review everything it touches. I use Claude and ChatGPT for scripting, scenario branching, and case-study development, and by my estimate it's cut my development time by roughly 30%. At EB Medicine I built a working standard for deciding which AI output could ship and which needed a rewrite.