Melisa Vinocurova

The problemis neverthe people.

I came into this work watching capable people fail, not from lack of effort, but because no one had built the systems for them to succeed. I'm an instructional designer with 4+ years of experience. I turn broken workflows into clear, standardized processes and design learning, from eLearning and simulations to live programs, that helps people perform with confidence.

Melisa Vinocurova at a desk with her laptop
Melisa Vinocurova · Instructional designer · Seattle, WA
1,200+ staff trained on a new ServiceNow portalQA classification mistakes cut 3xTalent Academy launched in 4 more locations52 Academy candidates promoted45+ new hires onboarded virtuallyCompliance eLearning for 6 officesVideo production time cut 3x with Claude and ElevenLabsMonthly talent report automated in n8n

About me

I create learning that helps people feel supported, capable and seen, because no one should have to figure it out alone.

At 19, I was promoted into a leadership role with no training, no guide and no one to show me the way. So I built that support myself: I interviewed experienced colleagues, structured what they knew, and turned it into training materials that were still in use long after I left the role.

That experience is why I moved into L&D. I wanted to be the person I never had, and my first focus was growing great leaders. I helped build the Talent Academy, which prepares agents for their first leadership role with training, practice on the job and 360 feedback before the promotion rather than after it, and later the Dreamport Academy, which does the same for future leaders of remote teams.

My work has grown well beyond leadership programs since then. Today I design eLearning, simulations, live virtual training and the processes behind them, so the people I work with have what they need to succeed, grow and feel seen in their role.

Melisa's second Talent Academy group at lunch with the company founder
My second Talent Academy group, invited to lunch with the company's founder in June 2024. Four of them were promoted after the program.

Experience

  1. 2021 to 2023QA Team LeaderDyninno Group · promoted from QA SpecialistLed 8 QA specialists; classification mistakes cut from 10 to 15 a week to under 5
  2. 2023 to nowHR L&D Senior SpecialistDyninno Group · remoteTalent Academy, supervisor eLearning, compliance courses for 6 offices
  3. 2025 to 2026Contact Center Training SupervisorJND Legal Administration · SeattleVirtual onboarding for 45+ new hires; QA system rebuilt in Forms and Excel
  4. 2026 to nowL&D Specialist IIHealthPoint · remote, contractServiceNow system training for 1,200+ staff; an AI awareness program for all staff

Build

  • Adobe Captivate
  • iSpring Suite
  • Storyline and Rise in training
  • Canva

Deliver

  • Mindtickle
  • Docebo
  • Zoom and Teams
  • Miro

Automate

  • Claude
  • ElevenLabs
  • n8n
  • Power Automate
  • Excel

Speak

  • ENEnglish
  • RURussian
  • RORomanian

How I work

Five principles behind every project I take on

  1. 01
    Not every business problem is a learning problem.Gaps often come from process, tools or incentives rather than missing skills.
    I start with the business need and the root cause.If the workflow is the problem, I fix or standardize it first. Learning comes in where skills are the gap.
    QA mistakes cut 3x with a decision map
  2. 02
    People learn by doing.Remembering an answer in a quiz isn't the same as performing on the job.
    I design practice that mirrors the job.Scenarios, simulations and live practice with feedback, plus job aids for what can be looked up.
    Live practice that mirrors the advisor job
  3. 03
    Success is defined before design starts.Completion rates don't show whether performance changed.
    I agree on the measure with stakeholders first.Then I track behavior on the job and the business result.
    52 promoted through the Talent Academy
  4. 04
    A program should outlast its designer.Programs that live in one person's head stall when that person moves on.
    I build for handover and scale.Replication guides, facilitator scripts and reports that run automatically.
    4 more locations, monthly report automated
  5. 05
    Speed matters to the business.Teams need solutions in weeks, not months.
    I use AI to speed up production and review every line.Scripts drafted with Claude, voiceover in ElevenLabs.
    Video production 3x faster

Portfolio

Case studies and interactive samples

Each one shows the business problem, what I built and how the result was measured. Use the tabs to filter by type.

vILT programDreamport (Dyninno Group)

Dreamport Academy: Live Virtual Training for Future Leaders

Three 90-minute live virtual sessions in Microsoft Teams, with a six-module eLearning prerequisite, that prepare future advisors to lead remote teams.

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Interactive · try it

vILT activityDreamport (Dyninno Group)

Interactive vILT Activity: In‑Tray Prioritization

An interactive activity from a live virtual session in Microsoft Teams. Seven issues are waiting; trainees decide when and how to handle each, share their answers in chat, then review the model answers.

Try the activity

Leadership programDyninno Group

Talent Academy Leadership Program

A 3 to 4 month promotion track for sales agents who want to be promoted into a leadership role: 7 instructor-led trainings, on-the-job tasks, 360 feedback and an assessment center. It replaced promotion decisions based on one manager's opinion.

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Hover to play

eLearning courseDyninno Group

Retention Course for Sales Supervisors

A 60-minute eLearning course and a 1-hour live session that teach sales supervisors how to keep new agents. Built from an analysis of exit-survey data on why new agents leave.

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Interactive · 10 to 15 min

Branching scenarioCompany name changed; no confidential company information

1:1 Coaching Branching Scenario

A branching scenario for sales supervisors. After a customer complaint, you review the evidence and then run a coaching 1:1 with a top-performing agent: 6 decisions, 5 endings.

Play the scenario
Hover to play

eLearning courseDyninno Group

New-Agent Onboarding Course for Supervisors

Five eLearning modules that teach sales supervisors how to onboard a new agent step by step over the first 120 days, instead of covering everything on day one.

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Demo video + simulation

Software simulationHealthPoint

ServiceNow Portal Training: Demo and Simulation

System training I designed for 1,200+ HealthPoint staff moving to a new ServiceNow portal. This page shows the original demo video, with private data blurred, and a browser simulation of the same task you can try.

Watch and try

Process improvementDyninno Group

QA Decision Map and Team Coaching

A decision map and group coaching for 8 QA specialists who analyzed customer communication and survey results to classify the root cause of each case. Classification mistakes fell to a third.

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AutomationDyninno Group

Talent Academy Reporting Automation

An n8n workflow that matches Talent Academy program data with HR records and emails HR a dashboard every month. It replaced a manual report built from two files that did not match.

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Process automationJND Legal Administration

QA Review Tracking System

A Microsoft Forms and Excel system that replaced three QA tracking files and an unreliable form. Reviews are no longer lost, and each review takes about 15% less time.

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Hiring an instructional designer?

Email is the fastest way to reach me. I'm happy to walk you through any of these projects, including the parts that didn't go to plan.