Melanie serves on several boards and participates in various organizations promoting healthy habitat research and policy efforts. She was a 2023 NM Coalition to Enhance Working Lands Community Collaborations Fellow, a 2019-2020 Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellow, and a 2023 Grist 50 Climate Fixer. She has recently been appointed by the US Secretary of Agriculture to the inaugural Pollinator Subcommittee of the National Ag Research, Ext Education, and Economics Advisory Board.
She is a tribal member of Tortugas Pueblo- a non-federally recognized Indigenous community located in southern New Mexico. As a mestiza of mixed Indo-Hispano and Caribbean descent- her multicultural perspectives inspire her to collaborate across cultures and landscapes promoting healthy pollinator conservation efforts. She works as the Extension Educator for the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, pairing Traditional Ecological Knowledge with western sustainable agriculture science. Melanie is also a writer, consilience researcher, artist, mother, and advocate for regenerative land stewardship and healthy food systems.