Editor
505-476-4413
melissaj.martinez@dca.nm.gov
Melissa Martinez has worked as the editor of publications at the New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies since 2014.
She was born in Santa Fe and raised in Northern New Mexico, where she spent most of her childhood roaming the desert hills on her grandparents’ property searching for pottery sherds, arrowheads, and small stone beads.
Melissa graduated from the College of Santa Fe with a bachelor’s degree in Humanities and another degree in Journalism and Mass Communications.
Shortly after graduation, she took a job at The Santa Fe New Mexican, where she spent 10 years working as a journalist, editor, and graphic designer. She received several awards for graphic design work from the National Federation of Press Women. Her work has also appeared on display at the former Newseum, a museum dedicated to news and journalism throughout the United States, in Washington, DC.
Hoping to spend more time with her young daughter, Melissa left her position at The New Mexican in 2009. In 2010, she took a job with the State of New Mexico’s Office of Recovery and Reinvestment, where she helped distribute federal stimulus funds under the direction of then Vice President Joe Biden and former New Mexico Governor Toney Anaya.
Following the dissolution of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in late 2011, Melissa took a job as a forensic technician at the Criminal Forensics Laboratory at the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, where she worked for several years.
Her childhood fascination with the art, history, and culture of her native New Mexico led her to the New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies, where she has worked for nearly a decade.