Melissa’s Story
Feb 26, 2020

Melissa’s Story | Thriving with EB

You can watch the full video of Melissa’s Story here (or down below).

Melissa’s Story

Most people know me as Mia’s mom. And certainly, I’m so blessed to be Mia’s mom and I’m so proud of the work we’re doing at MiaThrives.

Interior decorating

What I think most people don’t know about me is that I’m an interior decorator. Daryl’s in real estate and we do work together. So on any project that he’s working on, I come in and I help him with some design and I do all the decorating on our projects.

Mom’s influence

My mom was very artistic growing up. She was actually the art teacher at my school and she encouraged me to try different kinds of artistic creations. It was really disappointing because I was the art teacher’s child and yet I did not have this innate artistic ability. Over time my mom had different decorating companies. Something I had been privy to my life long turned into a career for me. When I got to go back to school and learn about interior decorating, I realized that I had been an artist the whole time, I just didn’t think about myself that way. I may not be able to produce the beautiful painting that’s in a room. I can create a room knowing what pieces work well with each other. I enjoy juxtaposing something old with something new. I actually really enjoy the process of interior decorating. I like going into a farm or a barn and finding those really old pieces. I’m able to pull out of that inspiration the look and feel that the client is going after.

The EB journey

This is part of the journey for me to accept myself and that I have EB. Part of my identity, I’m also an interior decorator. That feels really good to know that there’s value in what I do. I am an artist and I have this great ability to be able to transform a space and that’s a beautiful gift that I can give someone. It makes me feel really good about myself.


My name is Melissa and I’m thriving with EB.


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