Melissa always dreamed of being a pretty ballerina, when she was growing up, but when her parents refused to let her take lessons, she became the world's biggest tomboy nerd, instead. She ran amok in the woods and read so many books that, if laid end-to-end, they would have circled the galaxy four times over! While spending several years attending college and graduate school in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, for speech-language pathology, Melissa found herself making a living out of running amok in the woods and dangling children and adults out of trees! It was then that she found out that she could combine her nerdiness with her love of the outdoors, and so she went back to graduate school for a program in outdoor recreation at Indiana University. While there, she earned a graduate certificate in Therapeutic Outdoor Programs.
In 2001, Melissa also began studying the Japanese martial art of kendo, and served as the president of the local
kendo club, as well as chair of the club sports martial arts committee for two years. In spring of 2003, she attained the rank of shodan. She has performed numerous kendo demonstrations, in locations ranging from the IU campus to the Indianapolis Children's Museum, and in 2007, gave a short hands-on seminar at GenCon Indy.
She also likes to put her armor where her mouth is, and does the annual Race for the Cure in full kendo gear, to help raise money and awareness for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research. (See picture below). 
In a surprising turn of events, in late 2005, Melissa took a brief hiatus from whacking people with swords to try out bellydance. It took just one class for her latent girliness to re-emerge, like a magnificent phoenix rising from the ashes of two and a half decades of tomboy living. She hasn't looked back, since (and even resumed kendo!), and is quite excited to be a part of Calypso's Pearls! While not shimmying her way to fun and adventure, knitting nine-foot scarves, or dressing in samurai armor to spread the Way of the Sword, Melissa makes a living as a conference planner. She also sells Avon, which has allowed her to continue to let her inner girly-girl blossom.
