Hello and Welcome!

Let me tell you a tale about yours truly: Once upon a time, I had two passions:

1. Becoming a professional volleyball player.

2. Embarking on a wild career as a horse jockey.

 

Spoiler alert: both of these dreams got smacked down faster than a volleyball spike. At a towering (well, barely) 5′ 3″, I was way too “petite” for pro volleyball. And as for being a jockey? Turns out, my impressive height made me a skyscraper in the horse-riding world. Who knew you could be both too short and too tall? Talk about versatility!

 

Naturally, I had to pivot. What am I good for?” I asked myself. Enter: Chemical engineering. It was during college that I stumbled upon my true passion—protecting the environment. “It only took me 14 years of intense studying, training, working exploring and experiencing life until I figured out how to put all the pieces together, and that’s how GreenUp Consultants was born in 2008. My career took off faster than a horse at the Kentucky Derby.

 

From there, I added health, safety, and quality to my arsenal, and just kept galloping forward. Fast-forward to 2016, when GreenUp Academy came charging onto the scene, offering courses in EHS regulatory compliance and ISO standards (14001, 45001, and 9001). Along the way, I earned internationally recognized Exemplar Global certifications as a Lead Auditor for these ISO standards and EHS regulatory compliance audits. With that under my belt, GreenUp Holdings, LLC united both ventures in 2018, taking our impact on the EHS world to the next level. Think of us as a powerhouse for a greener, healthier planet—fueled by coffee and relentless passion.

 

Oh, and let me tell you about the training. I’ve coached high-level executives and trained countless individuals—registrar auditors, EHS professionals, and leaders across Fortune 500 companies, federal government agencies, state and local governments, the military—you name it. I’ve worked with so many people that I genuinely can’t remember the headcount anymore. Let’s just say if there were an Olympics for training, I’d probably get the gold medal. 

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As for globe-trotting? I’ve conducted hundreds of audits and completed countless EHS regulatory and management system projects across five countries (US, Canada, Mexico, England, Turkey) and 46 states. You’re dying to know about the remaining four, aren’t you? Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota are still calling my name. I will complete the set—someone hand me a map and a plane ticket! 

 

I think where I got the luckiest is that I had the privilege to experience the EHS and the manufacturing world from quite a few different perspectives: Operations, corporate, regulatory agency, industrial, first (own facilities), second (clients) and third (registrars and accreditation body) party auditing, consulting (including ISO management system creation and implementation) and training.

 

Naturally, this extensive and diverse experience led to the capability of combining and channeling these different perspectives into the project at hand towards the most effective, desired and customized outcome. Hence, there is no better feeling than sharing all this experience and knowledge with you.

 

P.S. I still got to play volleyball for 25 years. I think I can call it “pro” since I earned a little bit of money out of it too!

 

I even had a mischievous horse for about 15 years, who wanted to school me every chance he got. My dearest, handsome boy…

 

I guess, dreams do come true after all—just in ways you don’t always expect. That’s me, folks! I hope you enjoyed this peek into my journey, and I’d love to hear from you. Let’s work together to make the world greener, healthier, and infinitely more fun.

 

If you’re ready to tackle ISO 14001 audits with confidence, humor, and no fluff, let’s connect. Whether it’s training, consulting, or auditing, I’m here to make it as effective (and painless) as possible.

Let’s make compliance smarter, sharper, and— dare I say—fun.

 

Let’s go,  

Mel