Before joining The Assembly, Melcher covered local government and community issues in Greensboro and Winston-Salem for Triad City Beat, a tenacious alternative newspaper that served the Triad community for 11 years before closing in February 2025. During her two years with the publication, she wrote hundreds of stories and reported on a wide range of topics including public housing, homelessness, policing, activism, elections and transit, producing in-depth, people-centered pieces. In January 2023, she wrote an investigative piece for Triad City Beat about Greensboro’s Pallet shelters, which remains the website’s most-viewed article. In 2024, Melcher earned a second place award from the North Carolina Press Association for her city/county government reporting, and has a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from North Carolina State University.
Beat: Greensboro City Council Reporter
Melcher covers the Greensboro City Council, doing watchdog reporting with an emphasis on the environment and wellness in the community. She also produces enterprise and feature pieces on culture and history in Greensboro as exemplified by The Assembly’s Postmark: Greensboro series that examines historically important places in the city through the lens of the present.