I’m Mels—an artist, small business owner, and parent. I am running for the Montana House because I believe our representation should be focused on the Heights, not on social media headlines.
For too long, politics in Helena has been about “consequences”—passing laws that restrict or punish after a problem has already occurred. I believe in a different way. I believe we reclaim our government when we take responsibility for our neighborhoods and ask the right questions: Why is this happening, and how can we solve it together?
While my opponent focuses on national culture wars that don’t impact our daily lives, I am focused on the things that keep our community running:
I’m not a career politician. I’m your neighbor. I’m not here to solve your problems for you—I’m here to partner with you so we can solve them together.
There are so many things that are good in our lives, and I am grateful to all the people who came before me that made this possible.
From the time my family set foot in this country generations ago, they worked hard to build strong communities and teach their children the responsibility of citizenship.
Support for my campaign is support for our community and our democracy.
I was born in Iowa in a time of tumultuous cultural change, to parents who firmly believed in the ability of their two daughters, teaching us that we could achieve anything we set our minds to with the right work ethic.
When the factory my dad worked at moved operations to Mexico, we relocated from our comfortable, union-wage mid-western lifestyle to California where better jobs and free college beckoned. The 80’s were not good for blue collar workers, and we ended up moving every year, chasing jobs and affordable housing, until I finished (the no longer free) college and settled with my high school sweetheart, now husband, in his home state of Montana.
I love to solve problems. I’m most fulfilled when I can dig into a problem and find a solution to make somebody’s life a little bit better. This passion lead me from from my work in retail management, to heading Internet Montana in the early 2000’s, into marketing where I realized my passion for all things Internet, and my current work as a website developer.
Alongside my work to support myself and my family, I work to support my community through service, almost always in non-profits focused on education or services for the low-income community.
