Melissa’s career spans more than two decades working with unions, political parties, non-profits, and trade associations organizing for candidate, issue, and ballot initiative campaigns. As a political consultant in Las Vegas, NV for nine years, Melissa worked on campaigns ranging from community-level organizing up through presidential field direction. She previously served as the Grassroots Advocacy Manager for the American Association of University Women before joining the TargetSmart Communications family in early 2015, ultimately transitioning to REAL Strategies where she helmed the primary full-service vendor team responsible for the Independent Expenditures and Issues Mobilization operations of the largest trade association in the United States in addition to overseeing the department responsible for its member advocacy. Her decades of advocacy for women in politics and dedication to values-first organizing led to her most recent position as National Director, Field Strategy for Vote Run Lead Action.
Melissa has her master’s degree in political management from George Washington University. She is also a graduate of The Campaign School at Yale (formerly the Women’s Campaign School at Yale) and the Emerge program. She previously served an appointment by the Rockville City Council as a Board member for the Rockville Board of Supervisors of Elections where she helped to lead the transition to vote by mail for city elections. Melissa lives in Springfield, OR – the home of the Simpsons! – with her two golden retrievers, Beans and Steve. In her downtime, she enjoys bingeing reality TV, yoga, spending time with her pups, and Squatchin'.
- B.A., Texas State University - San Marcos, Political Science & Spanish
- M.P.S., The George Washington University, Political Management