Melvin grew up in the small town of Albany in south Georgia. His incoming freshman high school class contained over 250 students. By the time he graduated, there were only 68 students remaining. This ignited his passion for finding a way to empower students to take their futures into their own hands through higher education. He is the CEO of Upswing which provides a solution to reach, relate to, and retain today鈥檚 non-traditional learners by scaling student services, supporting 24/7 online tutoring, optimizing engagement, and utilizing insightful data to identify and support at-risk students. 

After graduating from the University of Georgia, Melvin received a JD/MBA from Duke University where he started a law forum for social and educational equality. Afterward, he became a law professor at North Carolina Central University.