Melissa Martelli

Melissa Mancini-Martelli was born and raised in Toronto, Melissa is a high school Drama teacher who
loves this second career much better than her first. After having graduated from Theatre school, Melissa
worked for more than a decade in theatre, film and TV both in Canada and in Italy. She was about to
move to Los Angeles when she fell in love with her sweetheart Joe. She switched gears, left her acting
world behind and focused on making a career change as well as a family! With an adorable 2 year old
and a two week old newborn, Melissa’s world fell apart when her sweetheart Joe was diagnosed with
GBM-brain cancer. Joe died 2.5 years later. Since then, Melissa has poured all her energy into her two
children who are now almost 12 and 10 and the students she has taught and mentored during her many
years of teaching. Lois introduced her to Camp Widow last year and she wishes she would have known
of it earlier in her grief journey. She is grateful to be part of this new venture and to be able to laugh and
cry with all the beautiful people she has met!