Previously, she was the deputy director of Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and editor of Atlantic Council’s popular publication, UkraineAlert blog. She is the author of the report Reforming the democracy bureaucracy (FPRI, 2013) coauthor of Biden and Ukraine: a strategy for the next administration (Atlantic Council, 2021), Biden and Belarus: a strategy for the next administration (Atlantic Council, 2021), Ukraine’s internally displaced persons hold a key to peace (Atlantic Council, 2017), and a contributor to Does democracy matter? (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). 

Melinda has worked for Superhumans Center, Eurasia Foundation, Freedom House, and National Democratic Institute, where she managed democracy assistance programs in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia. 

A graduate of Georgetown University, she holds an MA in Political Science with a certificate in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies. 

Melinda is the senior advisor at Razom for Ukraine, a member of the supervisory board of Right to Protection in Kyiv, Ukraine, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.