Melissa Monroe Reflects on Her 20+ Years at Adobe

Melissa Monroe didn’t choose the #AdobeLife. The #AdobeLife chose her.

Before coming to Adobe in 1995, Melissa worked for six years at the software company Frame Technology Corporation. (If you’re good at math, that’s 30 years at Frame + Adobe!) When Adobe acquired the company, Melissa began a whole new career.

“It’s not necessarily that I chose Adobe; Adobe chose me!” she said. “Yet I can’t imagine working any place else.”

Her first position at Adobe was to rebrand her previous company’s product, FrameMaker, as Adobe FrameMaker in a product manager role. Over the years, she has worked in vertical marketing, business development and program management for Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw, and today serves as Director of Program Management in Digital Imaging.

Digital Imaging Program Managers (Melissa, center) celebrate the shipment of Lightroom CC 1.0, Dimension 1.0 and Photoshop in October 2017.

Why Adobe?

When asked what’s kept her at Adobe for so long, Melissa says the variety of opportunities here has led her to take on new roles, work with new people and develop new skills. She also called out Adobe’s values and the closeness employees share. “It is like a family. People genuinely care about each other,” she said.

The Technical Support team (Melissa, far left), Frame Technology, shows off hand-painted shirts, circa 1990.

Reflecting on her journey at Adobe, Melissa highlights her experience working on the Adobe Lightroom team from 2004 to 2012. In 2005, a competitor released a rival product, so the Lightroom team knew they had to act fast. The team rallied together and worked all throughout winter break (besides one day off for Christmas) to release the beta version of Lightroom in January 2006. They weren’t expected to work through their vacation, but they cared so deeply for the product and each other that they did it anyway.

Melissa also looks back fondly on the many visits from Adobe founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke. “There’s just something about those founders that emanates what the Adobe values are,” she says.

An Adobe Camera Raw team photography trip to Zion National Park in November 2017.

Looking Forward

Melissa says she’s very grateful for her experience at Adobe so far and plans to stay for a long time. In an alternate reality, if she wasn’t working at Adobe, she would be taking sewing and couture classes in Paris. With a sabbatical coming up in 2021, Melissa is hoping to make her dream trip to Paris a reality.

As a seasoned Adobe employee, Melissa offered some great advice for new hires and potential candidates: “Be open and have a can-do attitude. Don’t be afraid of the unknown; embrace it!”

Interested in joining the Adobe team? Check out available career opportunities at Adobe_ or read more stories about Adobe careers._