Melissa has served as the Director of Leadership Development at the HTH Graduate School of Education since 2020. During her first four years at the HTH GSE, Melissa co-directed the New School Creation Fellowship, which supported aspiring new school founders across the country to open new schools grounded in equity, innovation, and deeper learning. Melissa continues to work with the Center for Love & Justice team, supporting school transformation efforts at schools across the US and beyond. She also serves as a faculty member of the GSE's M.Ed in Educational Leadership program, where she leads the Leadership Residency pathway.
Melissa joined the High Tech High organization in 2006 as a humanities teacher at High Tech Middle. In 2011, she became the founding director of High Tech Middle Chula Vista (HTMCV) and later served as Director of High Tech Middle Media Arts (HTMMA). Before joining HTH, Melissa taught at international schools in Cairo, Egypt and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She remains connected to the international school world by supporting international school educators to strengthen their work around PBL and deeper learning. She has worked with NIST International School (Bangkok), the American International School of Budapest, and the American School of Barcelona, among others.
Originally from North Carolina, Melissa earned her B.A. in Secondary English Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.Ed in Multicultural Education from George Mason University. In 2010, she earned another M.Ed as a member of the very first graduate student cohort at the HTH GSE.