Melinda and her husband Jeff moved to Charlottesville in 2016, drawn by the mountains, family, and the presence of an active Alliance Française. She grew up near Staunton, attended Duke University, spent a junior year in Paris, and received a B.A. in French with a minor in History. That somehow led to a stint with a non-profit production company, which led to CNN and then to HD Cinema, a bicoastal video production company founded with her husband while living in Atlanta. For work and for vacation, the two of them, sometimes with their two children, have visited France as often as possible, and Melinda spent another year there while her daughter was enrolled at a bilingual high school in Paris. Along the way, she’s tried to maintain some semblance of her college French through reading, films, and classes at the Alliances Françaises in Atlanta, Connecticut, Paris, Los Angeles and now Virginia. Melinda is currently serving as a volunteer on the AFC Events Committee.