Melissa was born and raised in Orange County, California, and started singing at the age of two. She received her B.A. in Music from UCLA, where she studied classical voice with Kari Windingstad and Juliana Gondek and performed with John Hall's Musical Theatre Workshop. While at UCLA, Melissa won first prize in the Carol Burnett Awards and played Lady Larken in Once Upon a Mattress under the direction of Ms. Burnett.

After college, Melissa began studying voice with renowned vocalist and director Calvin Remsberg and earned her Equity card by working under the steamy tent at Sacramento Music Circus.  She traveled the US and Canada for several years with the Broadway Touring Company of Les Misérables and was the final Eponine when the show closed in 2006 in St. Louis.

Melissa has recorded numerous voiceovers for Mattel and is the singing voice of Barbie for animated features, albums, and toys; her voice is quite often recognized by both little girls and parents! In 2017, she obtained a Master of Music in voice performance from CSULB under the mentorship of Timothy MacDougall. In addition to her work in theatre, concerts and voice-overs, Melissa is on the adjunct voice faculty of the Musical Theatre Department at Fullerton College. She is also happy to be on faculty at UCLA during their annual UCLA Summer Voice Intensive at the Herb Alpert School of Music! Melissa is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA, and Musical Theatre Guild in Los Angeles.