Melissa K. Dagodag is a native of California and attendedStanford University, where she earned both her Master's and Bachelor's degreesin English.  After graduating fromStanford University, she owned and operated her own product design andmanufacturing business for several years.   At her company she designed and manufacturedinnovative home accessories, including candles, clocks and picture frames.  From this business she gained valuablehands-on experience that continues to enhance her skills as a businessattorney. She decided to attend law school after feeling the frustration ofseeing her designs and other tangible representations of her ideas stolen byothers.

Throughout attending the UCLA School of Law, she retainedher ideals of protecting creative embodiments of work, for herself and hercreative friends and colleagues. After graduating from the UCLA School of Law, she gained a great deal ofhelpful work experience at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm, in-house as VicePresident of a small music publishing company and in-house as Business AffairsCounsel at a prominent fashion company.

Tired of not being able to give her clients the kind ofpersonal and immediate attention that they deserved, she decided to open herown law office in 2006. To this day, she endeavors to adhere to the ideals thatbrought her to the practice of law in the first place: helping to protect thework of creative and entrepreneurial people.  Having many fellow creative friends, from abstract paintersto recording artists, Melissa continues to live by her mission statement: toprovide high quality legal services to fellow creative and entrepreneurialindividuals at a competitive price. Outside the office Melissa has been a poetsince the age of five, and she also paints on canvas. She enjoys playingtennis, practicing yoga, taking photos of her scuba-diving adventures andwriting and performing her own poetry.

Melissa is a member of the California State Bar Association,the Stanford Professional Women of Los Angeles, the Stanford IndependentConsultants’ Network, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Clubof Santa Monica.  Further, she volunteers her time as a Board Member of Meals on Wheels West.