My name is Melissa and I like food. A lot. I like to spend most of my nights and weekends eating food, cooking food, baking food, talking about food and reading about food. I even like to spend my work hours dealing with food.

Since college, nearly all of my jobs have revolved around food, starting with a part time job at a candy and gourmet shop in Williamsburg, Virginia. After that, I moved on to a local seafood restaurant. I stayed there for a number of years, working as a server, bartender and manager.

A few years ago, I left the restaurant business for a job with regular daytime hours and weekends off. However, I did not leave the food industry entirely. I now work for La Tienda, a Spanish food, wine and housewares retailer. Primarily an online business, La Tienda is based just outside of Williamsburg.

I got married in early 2011 and just a couple of months ago, my husband and I relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia – just a 2 hour drive from our old home in Williamsburg. I was fortunate enough to be able to keep my job in the marketing department at La Tienda despite the move and I now work remotely from my new home in Charlottesville.

I love being able to spend my work days thinking about food and at this point, I cannot imagine working outside of the food industry. In the way long term, I’d love to open a bakery or a restaurant of my own, but in the meantime I’ll just keep cooking and perfecting recipes for use in the distant future.