ABERDEEN, Wash. — The further I drove from Seattle toward the coast, the denser the grove of evergreen trees on a drizzly July morning. Off of the Olympia Highway, a green welcome-to-Aberdeen sign bore the song lyrics “Come as you are” — an ode to grunge band Nirvana, which formed in the old lumber town […]
Author Archives: Melissa Hellmann
Melissa Hellmann is an award-winning reporter who covers racial, gender and economic inequality.
Prior to joining the Center for Public Integrity in August 2021, she covered marginalized communities for The Seattle Times. She previously worked at Seattle Weekly, the Associated Press, YES! Magazine, TIME Asia, and SF Weekly.
Her reporting has taken her to the homes of migrant families in the outskirts of Beijing, China; Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank; and a Tacoma, Washington, detention center where detained immigrants alleged their medical needs were ignored.
In 2019 she helped restart the Seattle Association of Black Journalists after several years of dormancy. Melissa has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and religious studies from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Journalism degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
