Inspiring Conversations with Michele Nieves of Miss ME Connection

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michele Nieves.

Hi Michele, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Michele Nieves is an accomplished Audio Visual Technician, V1, Video Engineer, and Production Manager, with experience on major projects like the MTV VMAs, national comedy tours, and global music festivals. Also a graphic designer and entrepreneur, she’s crafted campaigns for top fashion brands like Calvin Klein, DKNY to name a few, blending technical expertise with creativity.

Inspired by her passion for connection, Michele founded the Miss Me Connection platform, transforming fleeting encounters into lasting opportunities. With a focus on storytelling, innovation, and human connection, Michele continues to make an impact across industries.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it wasn’t a smooth ride. I was a personal assistant for the NY Mets, I was doing an event at the stadium and that sparked the new journey. I did 3 months of gig work in NY and being an executive assistant, my boss called me into his office and fired me. He told me to go enjoy my life. I struggled learning my trade but after about 2.5 years I started to being a leader. The pandemic hit and I had to learn new video skills: Hybrid and streaming. Then I moved to North Carolina because my partner at the time didn’t feel it was safe for me to be riding the subway and trains all hours of the night. So I had to start all over again.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Miss ME Connection?
I am the CEO of Miss ME Connection. We are all about helping individuals find that connection they made out at a bar, on a train, at an airport or pretty much anyplace really that can have a pin dropped on a map. We are known for reading and animating Missed Connections on social media platforms wanting to help others find that missed connection. But there are so many posts out there and we cannot get to them all, and many of them are genuine connections. If you do go looking on various website forums they are a mess for organization or you cannot tell which location they are referring to. A lot of them are fake posts, too. Then there is also the fact that while reading them we are guessing if it is a male or female who is writing them. Also on the sites people flag these posts and they are real posts. It can be a real moment but angry persons who don’t want people to be happy have the platforms remove them and they may never be seen again.

To combat this our platform helps you. You have to choose a category M4M, M4W, W4W, W4M and Someone looking for you. You have to write-in a physical place that this occurred – You may not know the address but if you were to put Walmart in Cary, NC, it will populate. Or RDU, or let’s even say a list of Dunkin Donuts and you choose the one where it happened at. You can say Dunkin but if there are 3 Dunkins in that town you know which one it happened at.

We are proud that we are women owned and operated. We are proud that we have a team that understands the vision and goal, and we are proud that we can really help pinpoint to that moment which help people make a connection. This is also if you are out shopping with one of your friends and they go to the platform and the one who has a missed connection doesn’t go on the site they can be like “Hey XYZ, we were here together and this is what you were wearing. Do you remember this moment?”

We would love for your readers to know that we are a free platform. We ask the least amount of personal details to protect users’ privacy. We, unlike dating apps and websites, have chosen safety over everything else. The only true information that we ask for is your email address and your postal code. We also want your readers to go out, live life, and get off of their phones because in the real world and not on an app is where real connections happen.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Well, growing up I was “grandfathered into the cool kids” because of my big brother but I was secretly a geek. President of the Video Club, was part of VICA (Vocational Industry Clubs of America) and competed in statewide competitions. I always loved Video as a medium so when I was in college studying Film and Video Production at CUNY Brooklyn, I did not want a normal job and to get out of Audio and Lighting classes I started working at the World Trade Center doing AV work. I was learning my current trade, funny how life has come full circle. I was supposed to be there that fateful day but God had other plans. I had an internship at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 where I met Miss Manage (Paulina Kucharski.) A year later I was part of the Disney Program for Production Management in TV, (that’s when Miss Manage and I became roommates living in LA) after that I worked in Film and eventually went back home to NY. So Yes I am a Geek but I am more into being part of something bigger than me.

Now don’t get me wrong I was a cool kid too. I loved to go to bars, clubs, raves in the mid 90’s and early 2000’s and get the party started. Anyone who knows me knows I am all about having a GREAT time, and if you are not having at least a good time I will do my Darndest to make you have a good time.

My interest vary but I always love technology, family, friends, God but my long term guilty pleasure is reading Missed Connections. I’ve been doing this since the actual Newspaper age. One reason that I got me started on reading them was a little movie called Desperately Seeking Susan (my favorite celebrity was Madonna.) I’ve also had a couple of missed connections through the years and I wonder “what if” myself.

So I say my passion is my AV work, but my purpose, is Miss Me and helping people connect. I have taken my known skills, learned new skills and keep my brain thinking how can I help people? The greatest gift given to us is the ability to Love and if I can help people get that gift then I know I am doing something right and maybe just maybe making the world a little bit brighter.

Pricing:

• Free

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.missmeconnection.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/missmeconnection/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/missmeconnection
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelenieves/
• Twitter: https://x.com/MsMEConnection
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissMeConnection
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@missmeconnection