Melody Birmingham-Byrd was 22 when she vaulted into management, taking a job as a front-line supervisor at a General Motors plant in Rochester, N.Y. She oversaw members of the United Automobile Workers whose backgrounds were about as different from hers as they could possibly be – most were male, white, older and experienced.But Birmingham-Byrd was determined to do right by her team, to provide the type of supportive, positive leadership she felt her parents never got in their assembly line jobs.