Melanie St. John

PORTLAND METRO AREA

Melanie St. John brings a wide variety of lived experiences through volunteer work. She worked extensively in the field of advertising, marketing, and public relations, including Intel Corporation for 11 years. She left the corporate world in 2001 and spent 5 years as the Volunteer Executive Director for Willamette West Habitat for Humanity, helping the affiliate grow from building one house every three years to five houses per year, and securing grant funding to hire an Executive Director.  She returned to the corporate world, but quickly realized that it was not where she wanted to be in life.  For 13 years, she owned and operated a successful coffee shop in SE Portland, then sold the business to assume full-time care of a parent with Alzheimer's. Melanie has volunteered regularly for different organizations, including 20 years as a hospice respite volunteer, three years with the Trauma Intervention Program, four years as a Certified Ombudsman with LTCO Oregon, three years with Guardian Partners, and nearly two years as a volunteer guardian with the Oregon Public Guardian Program.