Melissa Hoagland was born in York, PA, moved to Allentown PA as a teenager and attended Dickinson College, where she and Guy met, and then Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed a residency in Anatomic Pathology at Johns Hopkins Hospital before joining the Pathology faculty at Penn State's Milton S. Hershey School of Medicine. After becoming a stay-at-home mom, homeschooling 4 children, and community activist, she served as chief navigator and education coordinator during her family's extended RV travels. Melissa is now a writer and activist with a focus on climate change mitigation and earth stewardship, having completed Stanford's Online Certificate Program in Creative Nonfiction in 2013. Her hobbies include reading, writing, yoga, and hiking.