Melanie grew up in Maine and attended Portland schools. She graduated from the University of Southern Maine in nursing and worked at Maine Medical Center on the oncology floor before moving to North Carolina, where she worked on the bone marrow transplant unit at Duke University Hospital for eight years. She went back to school and earned her Master of Science in Nursing at Duke while working full time, before she and her husband decided to move home to Maine to raise their family. They reside in Scarborough with their two daughters. Melanie enjoys running, cooking, and spending time with her family.