Mellisa has a voice - a beautiful one - which she uses to shed light on social issues, concern for the environment and as therapy to mend a broken heart.
The multi-talented singer songwriter from Mount Maunganui has had a difficult year.
She suffered a devastating miscarriage in April. Melissa wants women to start talking about miscarriage, as as many as 50 per cent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage.
"I want to shed light on these issues so women don't feel afraid to speak out about it if it happens to them," she says. "People don't really know what you go through emotionally, and physically."
She has just released her 10th album, Crimson Daughter, and is holding an album release party on October 29 at Totara St venue.
"Regarding the title Crimson Daughter - I am a fire dancer so I dance with hula hoops and crimson is the deep colour of your heart of the soul. It's about a journey, it's about the loss of a child but also my birth of spiritual consciousness throughout an entire year. It also has a lot to with my native America."
Crimson Daughter contains messages and concerns about politics in her home country the United States and global environmental issues.
"I have songs that deal with the erosion of democracy in America, I have songs about climate change and the destruction of the environment for profit globally," she says.
Some proceeds from the album will go to environmental agencies and Melissa is not printing CDs to save further packaging - the album is digital only.
Melissa, 34, and husband Matt Smith (who sometimes joins her on stage with bass guitar) moved here four years ago. She is from a musical family in Wilmington in Delaware.
"I started as a folk singer, I was obsessed with Jewel then I started turning to Celtic fusion, taking on Irish and Scottish influence and morphing them into something else. The closest thing would be Irish rock but not the in the traditional way, more modern ... think The Cranberries meets Enya.
"Now I have taken world fusion with electronic influences and using looping technology."
Crimson Daughter is available via www.melcoxmusic.com/crimson-daughter.