Melinda Scaringi is a communicator working at the intersection of people, policy and purpose — with the climate transition and social impact persistent themes.
Melinda is a co-founder and direct of Senti Partners, with a career spanning two decades across government, not-for-profit, academia and business. In that time, she has worked on countless campaigns, brands and content that have made a difference.
Her focus is on understanding and moving people.
She combines behavioural insight, strategy and creativity to turn complex ideas into stories, campaigns and experiences — for marketing and advertising, for community and stakeholder engagement, and in all forms of content. She has delivered both multimillion-dollar campaigns and highly targeted initiatives for organisations large and small.
For her, the work is done not once the laptop is shut, but only once people think or act differently as a result.
Energy and the climate transition have become defining strands of her career. Her clients and collaborators have included local, state and federal governments, energy agencies, universities, not-for-profits, commercial entities and community organisations, united in their focus on an equitable net-zero future. She has also contributed her expertise as a speaker on issues including consumer trust in energy, community engagement, social licence and the future of the energy transition.
As co-founder at Senti Partners, Melinda works across brand, campaigns, communications and strategy, bringing particular depth in public policy, equitable health, education and energy. She has led online strategic communications for the Melbourne Energy Institute and Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne, delivered brand, communications and full-funnel campaigns and for the Abbotsford Convent, Queenwood School for Girls, and design institue, LCI Melbourne, and created employee behaviour change and workplace engagement campaigns for HBF Insurance and Yarra City Council.
The breadth of this work reflects the Senti proposition: helping organisations solve society's most pressing problems. By shaping narratives, defining positions, building brands, forging emotive connections, that drive meaningful impact.
This follows a decade working with Senti co-founder, David Constantine, as a director and co-principal at Ellis Jones, where she led the agency’s communications practice and helped shape its broader focus on social impact.
Her Ellis Jones work brought together behavioural insight, strategy, creative communications and social purpose — particularly in areas where technical or policy complexity needed to be translated into something people could understand and act upon.
She led a vast portfolio of government work at all leves, spanning: Victorian government departments DPC, DEECA, DELWP and DEJTR and agencies Energy Safe Victoria, Sustainability Victoria, Waterways of the West, Solar Victoria, the Victorian Public Service Commission, Federation Square and the Victorian Disability Worker Commission; federal government bodies the Department of the Environment and Energy, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the National Mental Health Commission, and the Australian Public Service Commission; and local city councils in Banyule, Boroondara, Glen Eira, Lake Macquarie, Melbourne, Moonee Valley, Stonnington, Greater Shepparton and Yarra.
And she contributed to an equally diverse mix of work with not-for-profits, academia and commercial organisations, including: BHP, Cabrini Health, Centre for U, City West Water, Cleanaway, the Clean Energy Council, Deakin University, Energy Consumers Australia, Energy Australia, Future Energy Skills, Good Cycles, Karrkad Kanjdji Trust, LCI Melbourne, Lendlease, Oho, SCR Group, the Sustainable Melbourne Fund & Better Building Finance, the Yarra Energy Foundation, Yarra Valley Water, and Vasey RSL Care.
In energy, Melinda led work that sought to put consumers back at the centre of a changing market. Her thinking on energy communications explored how organisations could move beyond functional messages and build trust by connecting with consumers’ emotional and intrinsic values. She led the Take Charge and Fairer Energy campaigns for the Victorian Government over several years, including delivery of the Energy Info Hub — using behavioural insights and codesign to help Victorians compare energy providers and prices. Her expertise in energy transition has also taken her beyond campaign delivery. She has presented on consumer needs, shared value and on building social licence for hydrogen at All-Energy Australia among other industry forums.
Melinda’s consulting career grew out of an earlier period working across public service and not-for-profit organisations, where she developed the combination of communications craft, public-interest thinking and stakeholder understanding that has remained central to her work. Her career has moved fluidly between government, community organisations, academia and commercial practice rather than following a conventional agency path. She knows well what it means to be the client as well as the consultant.
Melinda worked with not-for-profits the Victoria Law Foundation, including on public-facing initiatives such as Law Week and plain-language community legal information, and as campaign lead at the Morland Energy Foundation, supporting communities simplify their sustainability choices.
Her eight-year stint prior to this with the Victorian Government contributed to a career grounded in public-interest communications and the practical challenge of making complex institutions, policies and ideas relevant to ordinary people. Her subsequent energy work built directly on that foundation, extending from public information and engagement into behaviour change, social impact and the communications challenges of the energy transition.
Melinda holds a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) with Honours and a Diploma of Modern Languages (Italian) from the University of Melbourne.
Her focus is on understanding and moving people.
She combines behavioural insight, strategy and creativity to turn complex ideas into stories, campaigns and experiences — for marketing and advertising, for community and stakeholder engagement, and in all forms of content. She has delivered both multimillion-dollar campaigns and highly targeted initiatives for organisations large and small.
For her, the work is done not once the laptop is shut, but only once people think or act differently as a result.
Energy and the climate transition have become defining strands of her career. Her clients and collaborators have included local, state and federal governments, energy agencies, universities, not-for-profits, commercial entities and community organisations, united in their focus on an equitable net-zero future. She has also contributed her expertise as a speaker on issues including consumer trust in energy, community engagement, social licence and the future of the energy transition.
As co-founder at Senti Partners, Melinda works across brand, campaigns, communications and strategy, bringing particular depth in public policy, equitable health, education and energy. She has led online strategic communications for the Melbourne Energy Institute and Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne, delivered brand, communications and full-funnel campaigns and for the Abbotsford Convent, Queenwood School for Girls, and design institue, LCI Melbourne, and created employee behaviour change and workplace engagement campaigns for HBF Insurance and Yarra City Council.
The breadth of this work reflects the Senti proposition: helping organisations solve society's most pressing problems. By shaping narratives, defining positions, building brands, forging emotive connections, that drive meaningful impact.
This follows a decade working with Senti co-founder, David Constantine, as a director and co-principal at Ellis Jones, where she led the agency’s communications practice and helped shape its broader focus on social impact.
Her Ellis Jones work brought together behavioural insight, strategy, creative communications and social purpose — particularly in areas where technical or policy complexity needed to be translated into something people could understand and act upon.
She led a vast portfolio of government work at all leves, spanning: Victorian government departments DPC, DEECA, DELWP and DEJTR and agencies Energy Safe Victoria, Sustainability Victoria, Waterways of the West, Solar Victoria, the Victorian Public Service Commission, Federation Square and the Victorian Disability Worker Commission; federal government bodies the Department of the Environment and Energy, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the National Mental Health Commission, and the Australian Public Service Commission; and local city councils in Banyule, Boroondara, Glen Eira, Lake Macquarie, Melbourne, Moonee Valley, Stonnington, Greater Shepparton and Yarra.
And she contributed to an equally diverse mix of work with not-for-profits, academia and commercial organisations, including: BHP, Cabrini Health, Centre for U, City West Water, Cleanaway, the Clean Energy Council, Deakin University, Energy Consumers Australia, Energy Australia, Future Energy Skills, Good Cycles, Karrkad Kanjdji Trust, LCI Melbourne, Lendlease, Oho, SCR Group, the Sustainable Melbourne Fund & Better Building Finance, the Yarra Energy Foundation, Yarra Valley Water, and Vasey RSL Care.
In energy, Melinda led work that sought to put consumers back at the centre of a changing market. Her thinking on energy communications explored how organisations could move beyond functional messages and build trust by connecting with consumers’ emotional and intrinsic values. She led the Take Charge and Fairer Energy campaigns for the Victorian Government over several years, including delivery of the Energy Info Hub — using behavioural insights and codesign to help Victorians compare energy providers and prices. Her expertise in energy transition has also taken her beyond campaign delivery. She has presented on consumer needs, shared value and on building social licence for hydrogen at All-Energy Australia among other industry forums.
Melinda’s consulting career grew out of an earlier period working across public service and not-for-profit organisations, where she developed the combination of communications craft, public-interest thinking and stakeholder understanding that has remained central to her work. Her career has moved fluidly between government, community organisations, academia and commercial practice rather than following a conventional agency path. She knows well what it means to be the client as well as the consultant.
Melinda worked with not-for-profits the Victoria Law Foundation, including on public-facing initiatives such as Law Week and plain-language community legal information, and as campaign lead at the Morland Energy Foundation, supporting communities simplify their sustainability choices.
Her eight-year stint prior to this with the Victorian Government contributed to a career grounded in public-interest communications and the practical challenge of making complex institutions, policies and ideas relevant to ordinary people. Her subsequent energy work built directly on that foundation, extending from public information and engagement into behaviour change, social impact and the communications challenges of the energy transition.
Melinda holds a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) with Honours and a Diploma of Modern Languages (Italian) from the University of Melbourne.
