Melinda Chow

Melinda is a Co-Executive Director of Austin Youth River Watch (AYRW, aka River Watch). She became the executive director of River Watch in February 2016. She led the creation of a more distributed leadership structure for AYRW and became Co-Executive Director in 2023. Her major accomplishments at AYRW include: developing a supportive organizational culture that amplified effectiveness through person-centered approaches, mentoring, and collaborative decision-making; initiating an organizational transformation by facilitating staff and board teams through equity-centered learning, strategic systems change initiatives, and sociocratic processes; building high-performing leadership teams across staff and board positions reflective of the lived experiences of the youth and communities with whom we work; and implementing successful development and operational strategies leading to an organizational budget that has tripled in size, a strong staff team, and increased impact across Central Texas communities.

Melinda was drawn to River Watch because of her passion for social and environmental justice, community engagement, and empowering young people. Previously, she served as manager of the science outreach series “Hot Science – Cool Talks” at The University of Texas Environmental Science Institute. Her professional experience spans over two decades and includes Austin public radio stations KUT & KUTX, Girls Rock Austin, the South Memphis Alliance in Memphis, Tennessee, and the National Multicultural Institute in Washington, D.C. She also served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in Memphis. Melinda has served on the boards of the International Girls Rock Camp Alliance, The Dumpster Project, EarthShare Texas, and Austin Outside. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Anthropology, and a master’s degree in Applied Anthropology.

In her off time, she enjoys riding bikes, eating every kind of food, saying hello to animals, thinking about her next travel or nature adventure, playing board games, reading science fiction, and listening to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour.