Hi! I’m Melissa.

I live in northern California in a home built in the 40s in a neighborhood lined in sycamores and dogwoods. Beyond being completely obsessed with how people learn, communicate, relate, and take action on their dreams, here are eleven more things… Why 11? 

WHY NOT?

1. I’m a mom to three of the most beautiful children that God ever made– and also for a long time didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance to be a mom.  I will never get over the miracle that is their existence and that I was entrusted to usher their souls earthside.
   

2. I am married to my soulmate and best friend, Nick. He’s THE kindest, most helpful, quick-thinking, encouraging human I know.
   

3. For those who care about personality tests and self-discovery tools–I am a INFJ (a dreamer AND doer), Libra (social and deeply desires balance), Enneagram 8 (I like to lean into “a fierce advocate” as a descriptor, rather than a “tyrant” :) ), ⅗ Projector (trial and error is how I win, I see all the moving parts and perceive things from a birds-eye view. My energy is best spent in short bursts followed by deep rest.)  My top 5 Strengths– Relator, Strategic, Maximizer, Ideation, and Connectedness.  I love building business through relationships, making the good great, finding ways to do things smarter, and reveling in the big wild things that connect us all in mystical, synchronistic ways.  
   

4. I’m an accidental entrepreneur– I started my first business, Compliment as a scholarship fundraiser for my first-gen high school students, to help them afford higher ed.  I sold jewelry and small gifts with a compliment attached, so the giver could edify the receiver.  It was one million percent Divinely-inspired.  I learned as I went and grew it within 18 months to a substantial social enterprise that employed people in my community, helped send 13 girls to college, and connected tens of thousands of people around the world.  It shaped so much of my belief about who I want to be as an individual, a mom, a community member, a mentor, a doer of good, a champion of others, and a super smart business leader.
   

5. Whenever I listen to inner wisdom, I’m never ever wrong.  The voice of God within me is strong and loud.  We always have the right answers within us. 
   

6. I’m a voracious reader – my fave ultra-specific genre is memoir with recipes– and when I went to grad school for Creative Writing, I studied this sub-sub genre formally mostly because I am super fascinated by family folklore, kin-keeping and traditions around food and culture.
   

7. I love, LOVE to dance and many are surprised that I know lots of words to lots of songs, but especially 90s rap songs.  I love hip hop and R&B.
   

8. My favorite thing to do as a kid was to make up dance routines in front of our sliding glass door that separated the backyard from the living room. My dream is still to be one of Janet Jackson’s back up dancers when I grow up.
   

9. I am very easily moved to tears– not often out of sadness or frustration lately, but by art, expression, triumph, and people doing good in the world. 
   

10. I have been refining my pavlova- making skills, inspired by The Great British Baking show, not Bluey. ;) IYKYK
    

11. I still keep in touch with a very large number of my former high school students, even though I haven’t been a classroom teacher for 12 years. Most are in their 30s now.  It’s one of the greatest honors of my life to still be included in their special events– graduations, weddings, births, moves, and their day-to-days.