Melvina La Loba

Melvina is a contemporary writer, poet and performance artist. Her career as an artist began with an appearance on the then-popular child show Romper Room and various community theater performances. Melvina was the lead role in Little Shop of Horrors (as Mamma Mushie), a Raisin in the Sun and Phantom of the Opera. She has also been cast in roles with The Bay Area Repertoire Theater and African American Shakespeare Company. Melvina moved to Southern California to develop as a performer: signing with a talent agent, appearing in independent films, industrial videos, as a background artist to earn entry into the Screen Actors Guild and was Production Assistant for Yetta Young Productions.

After a few years in SoCal, she returned to the Bay Area where her focus shifted to writing and leadership roles. She was the stage manager in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf directed by Gerald Wright and directed performances for Oakland Unified Schools District. Melvina commuted to SoCal to shoot films with Tree Fort Productions and co-host Le Bouffant Hair TV episodes until she moved to Texas.

Melvina’s practice is vastly influenced by philanthropy. She worked as Probation Officer, Teacher, Community Development Director and Career Counselor. As a real estate investor, she rented exclusively to underserved, unemployed and disabled communities in Los Angeles, while designating an Oakland property to UC Berkeley students. Melvina has volunteered direct service to myriad communities: co-parenting single parented and/or orphaned minors, mentoring young girls from Oakland USD and Unity Outreach Baptist church and donating performances to Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. for the betterment of young girls in San Joaquin County. Melvina’s altruism is driven by her affinity for love, equanimity, self-empowerment, community and the preservation of women’s worth. This greatly influences her writing practice. Travel is also a favorite pastime and channel for informing her creative practice.

Melvina has a BA in Human Development-minor in African American Studies-from California State University Hayward and an MFA in Writing & Consciousness from California Institute of Integral Studies, where she was on the editing board for Mission At Tenth.

Currently residing in Dallas, Melvina is a professional poet/performer, copyediting consultant, community organizer and Book Club founder in the progressive DFW area.