Melanie was born on the Flathead Indian Reservation to a Séliš-Ql̓ispé mother and a Navajo father. Her father spoke Navajo as his first language, and Melanie remembers listening to her Grandmother speak Salish around the house. She began taking Salish language classes at around 12 years old, and now is one of only about a dozen fluent speakers of the Salish language. To Melanie, language was a direct connection to her community and provided a deep sense of belonging--a way to see through the eyes of her elders and access aspects of herself and her community that were previously inaccessible. From early on, Melanie knew she wanted to teach. After finishing her undergraduate degree in the late 90s, she went on to teach at public schools as well as Nk̓ʷusm, a Salish language school in Arlee, MT.

Twenty years after her undergraduate degree, Melanie has come to UM to obtain her Master’s in Linguistics to better understand her language and be able to teach it better, moving toward the dream of new generations of highly proficient Salish language speakers. Melanie says that language greatly informs one’s world view and she would like her community of language learners to see from her elders’ perspectives by analyzing their stories. Right now, Melanie works full-time for Salish Kootenai College in the Salish Language Educator Development program where she integrates skills from UM’s linguistics program to help grow a system of educators to reclaim the Salish language. Melanie is a recent recipient of the Mellon Master's Fellowship from the American Indian College Fund.