Melissa Charles
Founder and CEO
Baltimore, MD
A platform engineer who built the estate planning tool she wished she had.
Why she started Inhira
Melissa's path to estate planning wasn't a straight line. She started out as a platform engineer, pairing a bachelor's in accounting from Northeastern with a master's in AI and machine learning. That mix of financial rigor and technical depth now shapes everything Inhira builds.
The turning point was personal. In 2023 she became a mom through an emergency C-section, and in the middle of that frightening moment one question hit her: if something happened right then, what would come next? She had nothing in place. She realized millions of people carry that same silent gap, and that the tools meant to close it were too expensive, too confusing, or too intimidating to ever start. So she built a different one.
What she owns
- Sets the vision and strategy, and leads product and technology
- Owns the legal correctness and compliance bar the whole platform depends on
- Drives growth, fundraising, and financial planning while building the early team and partnerships
Away from the build
When she isn't building, she's usually chasing after the toddler who started it all.
