Melissa grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and graduated from Saints Peter and Paul High School in 2018. She was introduced to horses at a very young age and has spent her entire life working with them.

Growing up, she showed hunters up-and-down the East Coast and trained under a USDF gold medalist dressage rider. She joined the DEC team part-time in October of 2018 and then decided to be a full-time staff member in January 2019.

When she’s not working, she spends time riding her warmblood mare, Dance Card. When asked what she does in her free time, her reply was “wait...what is free time?”