Melissa began her career as the assistant curator at Exit Art and co-curated exhibitions on the intersection of visual art and design, and documentation. She also worked on exhibits about living artists at mid-career. As a program officer at the New York State Council on the Arts from 1999-2007, Melissa was an advocate in supporting contemporary art projects done in collaboration with local communities. Melissa has written about artist organizations for a variety of publications. Her essay, “Do It Yourself: A History of Alternatives” was published in Alternative Histories: New York Art Spaces (MIT Press) in 2012.