Melissa Dawn Waters

I have been married for 10 years to my wonderful husband named Chris. I graduated from East Rutherford High School in 1997. I worked at Winn Dixie from 1995-2000 in the deli/bakery making wedding and birthday cakes, etc. I left there in 2000 and went to Nestle stouffers where i worked in the cafeteria as a server and then a shift supevisor until they took the cafeteria out and put in vending machines. I then went to work on the lines making stoufers dinners until 2010. I then left in 2010 because i was going through a divorce and had to move and it was to far to drive. I had a few other small jobs until i decided i wanted to go back to college for Cosmetology. In my first semester i took a Success and Study Skills Class, an Introduction to Comuters class, An Eng 090 class, an Eng 090A class , and a Math 060 class. In my second semester i took COS 111 Cosmetology Concepts, COS 112 Salon 1A, and COS 224 Trichology and Chemistry, and in my third semester i took COS 240 Contemporary and design, COS113 Cosmetology Concepts, COS 114 Salon 2, COS 119 Esthetics Concepts, COS 223 Contemporary hair coloring, and COS 250 Computerized Salon Ops. I graduated with a Cosmetology license in 2013. I worked at 4U spa and salon from 2013-2015 and then went to Salon 74 from 2015 until 2018. I left in 2018 when my husband and i decided to to foster a little boy in march 2018 that was born addicted to several drugs from the biological parents. We brought him home straight from the hospital at 5 days old. He was born premature and was going through withdrawals from the drugs and he needed our complete attention. He has been in physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapies since he was born. He has adhd and has been late developing since he was born. He will turn 4 in March. We are in the process of trying to adopt him. He is our heart and soul and we love him to the moon and back. And he has truly changed our life for the better. I stepped away from my career as a Cosmetologist to focus on him and helping him get the help he needed to help him overcome all these obstacles that he has went through since birth. He is a strong, brave, and smart little boy and we have had the opportunity of watch him grow and thrive. And we cant wait to see what life brings him in his future. Since bringing him into our life and helping him work through his disabilities it has shown me where my heart truely lies, that i love helping children. Although i enjoyed Cosmetology i have come to realize that i want to be able to help and guide children to learn and help them prepare for their future as I have helped our little boy. It warms my heart to see a child learn something new and be so proud of themselves. So i think having our little man for 4 years and helping him through his therapies has helped me with the tools that i can use and share with not only the children but hopefully with the teachers also.