Her work also examines the professional practice and identity of effective African American educators in ways that illuminate how they have relied on their cultural ethos to resist, transform and liberate themselves in ways that result in meaningful and non-alienating improvements in education and society. Her work is featured in such journals as Urban Education, The Urban Review, and African American Learners. Prior to her work in higher education, Melanie was an elementary school teacher and a community organizer for a grassroots parent empowerment group.