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Contingent Workforce (CW) Program Game Changers

These forward-thinking contingent workforce management professionals are evolving the global world of contingent work through their innovation, determination, and ability to change the game.

2024 CW Program Game Changers

Melissa Salazar

Manager Contingent Talent Partners | Netflix

honoree profile

Growing up with a sister who is hard of hearing, Melissa Salazar always wanted to do something to make life easier for deaf, hard of hearing, deaf blind and deaf disabled communities. When she moved into contingent worker recruitment for Netflix and noticed that neither candidates nor staffing firms were requesting hearing-related accommodations, she saw an opportunity.  

Leveraging her extensive network, Salazar identified a Deaf-owned and -operated staffing firm and brought it into Netflix’s contingent talent partners program. To ensure the success of candidates, she also partnered with Making Space, a learning platform that creates pathways to employment and career advancement for people with disabilities, to develop a free master class on building key art. On top of this, Salazar recently expanded her efforts to reach candidates with non-visible disabilities more generally. In all, she has reached over 300 candidates who self-identify as having a disability.

Salazar’s initiatives have enriched Netflix’s talent pool and created space for employees to openly discuss their disabilities. This has fostered a more inclusive workplace environment and resulted in the setting of new benchmarks for supporting the disability community. “I love everything about my job,” says Salazar, “but my favorite thing is the impact I can have.”

Salazar looks forward to working with her team to develop other bridge programs targeting talent in overlooked groups like veterans and mothers returning to the workplace. To do this, she works tirelessly both inside and outside of her company, supporting employee resource groups and, speaking at industry events, mentoring and collaborating with minority-owned companies that support the staffing industry.