Chicken Soup, Buddy Holly and French Roast Coffee — Meet New Member Melissa Face

By First Vice President for Membership Terry Haycock

Melissa Face hails from Wakefield, Virginia, where she’s lived most of her life. She attended high school at Wakefield’s Tidewater Academy. After graduation, she resided in South Carolina while earning a Bachelor of Arts from Coastal Carolina University, Conway, and a Master of Science from Webster, Myrtle Beach. She is certified to teach special education, gifted education, and English 6-12.

Having accrued 16 years teaching, Melissa has spent the past six years teaching English to gifted students at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School for the Arts and Technology in Petersburg, Virginia. She says she loves working with her students because they are so creative.

She lives in Prince George County with husband Craig and their children Evan, 11, and Delaney, 8.

It was during college in South Carolina that she started writing as a newspaper journalist. Back in 2004, she wrote for Sasee, a women’s magazine. Says Melissa, “When I first saw my name in print, I was hooked on writing.”

In addition to teaching, Melissa currently does freelance writing for parenting publications and has contributed 25 stories for Chicken Soup for the Soul. Since she is a “big-time” dark roast coffee drinker – strong with a splash of milk — it’s no surprise that her recently published book is entitled I Love You More than Coffee: Essays on Parenthood. It is available online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chop Suey Books, and others.

She says she enjoys telling others’ stories — who they are, what they do, what they are skilled at and “celebrating people while they are alive.” She submits an article when she has a pertinent story and time to write.

“I asked my editor about networking and contest opportunities, and she directed me to the [VPC] website.”

Melissa Face

Currently, she has an article in the January/February issue of Richmond Family Magazine, “When Healing Runs in the Family.” It was through the RFM that she found VPC. “I asked my editor about networking and contest opportunities, and she directed me to the [VPC] website.”

Melissa and her family take weekend trips and walks up and down her long driveway to enjoy the scenery. They have visited Lydia Mountain, Charlottesville, where they stayed in a cabin and loved the fresh air and quiet and Beach Topsail Island, North Carolina, as well as Great Wolf Lodge, Williamsburg and, since Craig hails from Bennington, Vermont, they often visit family there. She has also traveled to Europe, Bermuda, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Montreal, Canada, and plans a trip to California with the kids in the next couple of years.

Melissa became a “huge Buddy Holly fan” back when she was a preteen and listening to radio; she tried to create her own tapes. “His sound appeals to me,” she says. This summer, she plans for the family to drive to Lubbock, Texas, for the Buddy Holly events then go on to explore Austin. She describes it as a fun thing for the family.

Melissa says she finds the journalism field more supportive than others she has experienced. She is excited to be a new member of VPC and looks forward to meeting others with a shared interest and “can’t wait to attend an in-person VPC event.” We hope that will be in the spring. She is a delightful, upbeat, enthusiastic person. Who knows? When we reconvene, we might be able to talk her into singing karaoke, another of her hobbies!