Melony Bryant is the Minority & Small Business Advocate with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC). Melony has been with the BWC for almost 6 years, however she has more than 25 years of workers’ compensation experience.
When she started with the agency 6 years ago, her role was a relatively new position as the person who vacated the position was mainly focused on procurement for minority businesses. Her then Chief and Director asked what direction she would like to take the position as the Minority & Small Business Advocate and her immediate response was education! In all of her experience, it had been apparent that most minority and small businesses didn’t know what they didn’t know when it came to workers’ compensation. Workers’ compensation serves as a protection not only for employees but also for businesses.
Melony covers all 88 counties as the only Minority & Small Business Advocate. She works very closely with many organizations, chambers of commerce, and other state agencies presenting and exhibiting at various workshops and expos around the state. One of the main business partners are the Small Business Development Centers or SBDC’s. Many of the SBDC’s have monthly workshops for their small or start-up businesses to discuss business basics and I present and discuss BWC basics. She also works very closely with the Hispanic, African American, and Asian chambers of commerce. She discusses who must be covered, what is elective coverage, the difference between an employee vs an independent contractor, and various BWC programs and grants.
Melony can be reached at melony.b.1@bwc.state.oh.us
