She is a community college instructor based in Northern 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 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 Masters of Arts degree in Geography from Hayward State University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Geography.

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 served as a Registrar for two local chapters of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.