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Gaming and tech are a constant in Melissa’s life. Her interest first sparked at the tender age of six when she received a PlayStation with the game Spyro The Dragon, only amplified a year later, on her seventh birthday, when she unwrapped a brand-new Game Boy Color and a copy of Pokémon Silver. Little did she know – these would be the events which propel her passions for the rest of her life.
It didn’t take long for Melissa to discover coding. As a 10-year-old in the mid-2000s, HTML was basically an online playground full of creative opportunities.
“I liked coding because it could make things like games and customized webpages. Coding itself seemed more like a game to me.”
It wasn’t long after that when she developed her first game as a junior year in high school: a two-player shooter titled “CTHULHU VS. MOTHMAN”.
Fast forward 5 years later, Melissa walked the stage to receive a degree in Cybersecurity at Illinois State University. Melissa states,” When ISU made an announcement that they were introducing a new major: Cybersecurity, I jumped on the opportunity. I was already regularly attending the Security club at the time. We would play games like ‘capture the flag’ where we would try to infiltrate and decrypt files to find secret codes for points. Things like hacking and reverse engineering were like a game, and there were lots of fun ways to do it”. Her appetite for cybersecurity challenges helped earn her 2nd place in the State Farm’s Capture the Flag Tournament. While beat out by the leaders of the Cybersecurity club, both teams were recognized for breaking scoring records.
Favorite Quote: “I heard that space is full of dark matter and stuff, but those stars make it pretty bright to me!” - Pascal
Fresh out of college, Melissa didn’t pick the obvious direction of landing a cybersecurity position, instead Melissa “decided to branch out and experiment with sales since I had an interest in it...”. And we appreciate her decision as Melissa is proving to be a dedicated go-getter, using her super-sleuth background and ambitious personality to garner great results.
