Assistant Director
Professional :
- 30+ years of experience contracts management and negotiations for a number of the top Fortune 100 oil & gas corporations, including: Exxon Pipeline Company; El Paso/Tenneco Oil Company; Pacific Gas & Electric (based in San Francisco); Entergy/Koch (formerly, Koch Gateway Pipeline Company); Shell Trading/Shell Energy North America; Phillip66 and Repsol Energy Marketing. Melody was the first and only African American employed with the U.S. office of Gazprom Marketing & Trading.
Non Profit Board Affiliations and Community:
- African American Library (Gregory Friends) 501(c)3 board; Texas State Bar-Paralegal
- Division; Houston Corporate Paralegal Association (HCPA); Barrett Management District
- Barrett Station Community Development Corporation (501c-3); Barrett Station Civic League 501(c)4 –
- Executive board member; Harris County African
- American Cultural & Heritage Comm–Pct. 2; and Barrett Station Evergreen Cemetery.
Education:
- Master of Liberal Arts – cum laude graduate of Houston Baptist University 1992
- Graduate of Southwestern Paralegal Institute (ABA Certified) 1989
- Graduate of Crosby High School – 1978 – (with honors, as member of the National
- Honor Society and selected as Who’s Who Among American High School Students)
- Other credentials: Life Insurance Agent: licensed in Property & Casualty-Home & Auto/Life/Life & Health/HMO and Final Expense Planning
Business Owner:
- Melody is CEO/Owner of Barrett’s Heritage Houses, LLC d/b/a JAMEL Properties – which invests in the sale and purchase of land and real estate; rehabilitation and leasing of rental properties; and property management.
Hobbies:
- Gardening, arts & crafts – (sewing, music, reading, painting, creating and appreciating all forms of art) and enjoying the grannies!
Religion:
- She has been a lifelong member at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church where she grew up singing in the choir and playing the piano at various other local churches in the community and surrounding neighborhoods during her childhood.
- In 2004, Melody served as a member of the Crosby Independent School District’s Long Range Planning Committee.
Philosophy:
- “Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi