Educator / Journalist
Melonee Gaines is an abolitionist educator, freelance journalist, owner and lead maven of MPact Media Group, and co-host of On The Phone With Friends Podcast, a show that discusses and witnesses Black women’s friendships and the connections that sustain them. Melonee’s career has included educational programming and outreach in post-Katrina New Orleans, public relations with American Black Film Festival, and community outreach and fundraising alongside communities in Baltimore, Atlantic City, Detroit, Flint, Memphis, and rural Mississippi. Her resume includes being a Living Cities Year of Reckoning writing fellow (2021), Leaders of Color cohort member, former VP of Digital Media for the Memphis Association of Black Journalists, and Executive Committeewoman for the Democratic Party in Memphis, Tennessee. She was an inaugural member of the nonprofit news organization MLK50.com that chartered a yearlong examination of Memphis’ social justice issues leading to the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s death. She has also written for NAACP’s CRISIS Magazine, TheGrio.com, and WKNO public radio. Born by the water in New Orleans and rooted on her grandmother’s land in Picayune, Mississippi, Melonee has made Memphis her home for over 10 years. She holds degrees in English literature from the Universities of Southern Mississippi and Memphis. She is the proud mama to a teenage womanist-in-training and a happy shih tzu. A professed oxtail enthusiast, a devout traveler, and a music evangelist, you can follow her musings and rants on Twitter @melohello and Instagram at melonee.jinaki.