Melissa studied journalism and electronic media at the University of Tennessee. To gain credibility as an aspiring food writer and continue her education, Melissa attended culinary school at Johnson and Wales in Charlotte. She enjoyed learning various techniques from cultures around the world, and became passionate about recipe development.

After graduating, Melissa learned dietary substitutions at Morrison Healthcare research and development kitchen in Atlanta, the importance of a recipe to be scientifically accurate with both ingredients and equipment at Cook’s Country Magazine at America’s Test Kitchen in Boston, and later joined the staff Hoffman Media as a Test Kitchen Professional in Birmingham. White at Hoffman Media, she was promoted to the Assistant Editor of Cooking With Paula Deen and honed her skills for website development, social media management, editorial content planning and creation, and marketing.

Melissa enjoyed living in various cities, but something about the Smoky Mountains called her home. She likes creating a reason for people to gather, which gave an opportunity for her love of baking to blossom. She thrives working with a balance of media content creation and baking. Fox Den Baking Co. completed the private commercial kitchen in November 2020.

We look forward to being a small, sweet part of your celebrations!