She is a community college instructor based in Northern California and teaches online. Her popular book, Walking with Your Ancestors: A Genealogist’s Guide to Using Maps and Geography, joins a long list of articles in numerous genealogical magazines and other publications. She is a course coordinator and faculty member at IGHR and a faculty member at SLIG.

Her genealogical specialties include 19th-century and contemporary genealogical records in California, including map and land records. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles, a Master of Arts in Geography from Hayward State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley.

Melinda is a member of the National Genealogical Society, Association of Professional Genealogists, Utah Genealogical Association, California Genealogical Society, Shasta Historical Society, and Shasta County Genealogical Society. She also served as a Registrar for two local chapters of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.