After moving from Venezuela to the United States due to the political turmoil, Melissa discovered her passion for journalism and Latin American affairs. At UT Austin, Melissa serves as the Spanish editor of the Student Journal of Latin American Studies and has interned at the Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies and at two online publications one of which included the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Melissa has studied abroad in Spain and conducted field research on censorship in Havana, Cuba for her Senior Thesis.She is interested in studying the impact of Latin American leftist governments on democratic values such as freedom of expression and human rights. This past spring semester Melissa was selected as an Archer Fellow in Washington D.C. where she took classes on politics and interned in the media departments of the Organization of America States and the Washington Office on Latin America while also collaborating with various news outlets that included Globovision and Hispanic Link News Service. Melissa was chosen to be a Fellow at NBC News as part of the NAHJ/NBC Fellowship where she served as field producer for Nightly News. In June 2011, Melissa was chosen as a fellow of the National Hispana Leadership Institute (NHLI) and traveled alongside other college students to Israel.
After graduation, Melissa plans on attending graduate school in Washington D.C. and pursuing a career that mixes her love for journalism and Latin American affairs. Melissa has lived in 4 countries: Venezuela, Spain, Mexico and the United States and has traveled to more than 25 countries.
Melissa began her journalism career in The Chronicle, Tom C. Clark High School's newspaper, where she served as Editor in Chief and reported on stories on immigration, education and entertainment. The Chronicle was an award winning publication whose awards included the Columbia Silver Crown from the Columbian Scholastic Press Association.
