Hello, my name is Melissa Ray and I currently live in Rockwood, TN.
 I am originally from the area and have lived here most of my life. I was raised by my wonderful grandparents in the Kingston area. I graduated from Roane County High School in Kingston in 1984, and shortly after moved to Cincinnati Ohio, where I lived and worked for 10 years. I moved back to the Roane County are in 1994, and lived in Harriman until 3 weeks ago.
 I have my own small online business, called Classy Divas, where I sell womens clothing and acessories. I have a customer base of about 500 ladies from the Roane County and surrounding areas.
I am currently attending Roane State and studying to be a paralegal. I have always been interested in law, so I took this opportunity to attend school and get my education after leaving timeshare sales
due to the slow economy. I thought this would be the perfect time to obtain an education and pursue what I have always wanted to do.
I am currently married to my husband of 13 years. I have 2 wonderful children, a son who lives in Nashville who is a Sergeant in the Army National Guard; and a daughter who lives in Alcoa and who works in the Maryville area. I have a wonderful stepson and stepdaughter who live in the Roane County area. My husband and I are blessed with the love of 9 wonderful grand-children, one of them I am raising. Her name is Tatiyana and she has lived with me for the last 4 1/2 years. She is 6 years old and such a joy in my life.
I am also a dog lover and I am "Mommy" to 2 adorable toy poodles, Smokey and Gizmo.

I am taking this class in hopes of learning more about our government and how the different branches work, and to obtain more knowledge on how the American judicial system operates. I am also interested in gaining more knowledge of how the legislative branch of our government works and all the steps taken to make the laws of this country.