Hi, I'm Melissa — a business and intellectual property lawyer, entrepreneur, yoga teacher, cancer-survivor and the founder of Blissness® School. 

Blissness® School is designed to invite more joy, happiness, and ease — a counter-balance to the stress, strain, and anxiety that can too often overwhelm busy professionals and creative entrepreneurs.

After over a decade of working in corporate law with companies like Genentech, adidas America, LucasArts, and others, I started a West Coast boutique law practice in order to bring my knowledge and expertise of the law to smaller businesses and individual entrepreneurs.  I've guided creatives, artists, musicians, and others through changing legal terrain for over two decades and here's what I learned: far too many didn't understand the basics.

I knew I could do more.

Prior to becoming an attorney, I received my (RYT 200) yoga teaching credentials. I’ve continued my mindfulness and wellness training, studying with masters like Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Bob Thurman, Annie Lemont and others, ultimately being asked to guide meditation classes by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, in California.

In spite of my wellness studies, I engaged in perfectionistic professional practices and other un-checked high-stress experiences, until I received a cancer diagnosis in 2022. I spent the next several years learning how un-managed stress can wreak havoc on the body, including how it can quite literally lead to a cancer or other life-threatening diagnosis.

With a revived passion for wellness and a new perspective after “beating cancer,” and I began to offer continuing legal education (CLE) presentations for the state bars of Washington and Oregon on how to overcome perfectionism, balance personal and professional health, and how to incorporate wisdom teachings into modern life for longevity and wellness.

In 2024 I was invited to participate on the Washington State Bar Wellness Taskforce, and continue to serve in that role.

Blissness® School has been leading personal wellness and professional growth retreats on Maui, Hawaii since 2015 and will offer specific opportunities for licensed attorneys to learn and practice burnout recovery strategies for wellness in 2025.

Blissness® School fuses philosophies from a variety of traditions that guide us how to live an intentional life with insights from professional experience in business, law, mindfulness and wellness — creating a pathway to your most purposeful and productive life.