Melissa thought she was going to be an actress.

After receiving her undergraduate degree in theater and French from Towson University, she moved to New York City to try her hand in the thespian world. But one day, while home resting a broken ankle, Melissa realized she wanted to try a different profession – nursing.

She enrolled in the three-year nursing program at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York. In her last year of the program, she saw a baby born for the first time. That affirmed it, she said. There was nothing else she would rather do than bring babies into the world.

Melissa took a job in the post-partum and labor and delivery unit at the NYU Medical Center. While working full time, she also attended graduate school at New York University in the nurse midwifery program. Melissa graduated in 2004 and started at Special Beginnings shortly after.

She said she was drawn to Special Beginnings because of her co-workers’ experience levels, as well as the support and respect the center’s clients receive. She also likes the fact that clients – pregnant or not pregnant – can receive everything from well-woman check ups to counseling and birth control at the center.

“It’s empowering to women that they can make their own choices,” she said. “The client’s first visit is an hour, and each additional visit is at least 30 minutes,” she said. “In that time, we really get to know our clients. That’s the hallmark of midwifery care.”

Along with working at Special Beginnings, Melissa teaches nursing students at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

Melissa would like clients to remember that they have choices when it comes to their pregnancies. She also encourages women to recognize how important the mind and body connection is during their pregnancies.