Director of Education at Georgia Audubon since 2014, Melanie develops and delivers programs about birds for audiences of all ages and backgrounds, as well as provides professional development for educators.

A licensed wildlife rehabilitator, her interest in birds was sparked while feeding orphaned baby birds as a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator, and in 2018, she became the custodian for Georgia Audubon’s first education ambassadors, two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds injured in window collisions.

Melanie is a former high school English teacher and holds a Masters of Arts for Teachers degree from Agnes Scott College. She is a certified Master Naturalist and has served on the board of the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia and the advisory council for K-12 Education at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Passionate about wildlife and nature, she documents her wildlife adventures and musings about nature on her blog and social media page, My Eco-centric Life. She is the mother of two college students and three rescue cats. Her favorite bird is the American Crow.