Melissa was adopted when she was three days old.
She worked in the IT field for over 25 years, and has lived in
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Alabama, and Illinois.
She attended Columbia College Chicago and was taught by Hal "Corky"
Kessler and Robert "Bob" Enrietto. While attending the 1999 Cannes Film
Festival as a Columbia College intern she met and befriended Jennifer
Schaefer, Kirkland Tibbels, Anita Lewton, Andrew Rajan and Michael
Kirk.
