Born and raised on a farm in rural Saskatchewan, Melissa knew from the young age of 5 years old that she wanted to be an anthropologist. Dedicating 13 years to studies overseas, Melissa earned a Master's degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Free University of Berlin in 2016. 

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Starting off as a writer, Melissa authored and published two books: "Filming for Freedom: Cinema as a Critical Voice of the Mubarak Regime" and "Pimatisiwin Wawiyekamaw: A History of Jacob Bear and the Round Lake Mission". Travelling across many countries and continents, Melissa took on photography as a hobby, documenting landscapes, cultures and experiences of her travels. More recently, Melissa has started to explore visual anthropology and has had the opportunity to work with several Indigenous Nations developing a series of videos with Indigenous Elders on Indigenous Knowledge and Land-based education. Most recently, Melissa produced a thriller for the Dead North Film Festival in Yellowknife, NWT outside of her typical realm of working in documentary filmmaking.

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Melissa now dedicates her work to documenting subarctic and arctic adventures, Indigenous land-based education and northern lifestyles.

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