MEET MELANIE
Born in New York, Melanie spent her teenage years living in Greece, before returning to the States for college and a career on Wall Street.
Her perspective is shaped by a life lived across two worlds, giving her a deep understanding of both cultures.
Living in Manhattan exposed her to the best of everything, from fine dining to travel. She became a real foodie, while hopping planes around the world at the drop of a dime. As her career in Finance unfolded, she continued to feed her worldly and creative soul, and could be found taking photography classes at FIT or studying French at the Alliance française.
the guide evolution
Over the years, Melanie began bringing her American friends to Greece. She loved watching them fall in love with the country - the beaches, the cuisine, the warmth of the people, and the unmistakable “joie de vivre”. She quickly learned what worked and didn’t work for visitors.
One thing became clear to her - having a native “insider” guiding you really changes everything!
As Greece’s popularity grew, questions about where to go and what to do kept pouring in. Friends asked, and then their friends asked! Meanwhile, Melanie began spending a lot more time in Greece, with greater flexibility in her career and the ability to work remotely. Home based in Rhodes in summers, she regularly hopped ferries to explore new islands. She danced nights away in Mykonos, swam in Crete’s crystal-blue waters, and discovered taverna gems on the smallest of islands. She fell head over heels for Athens - now a vibrant, cosmopolitan city, unlike the one she remembered as a child.
THE CHIC INSIDER GUIDE TO GREECE IS BORN
Her insights for friends became a go-to PDF, but that still didn’t feel like enough. Melanie soon found herself writing a guidebook entitled The Chic Insider Guide to Rhodes, which she imagined as the first of a series. As the requests for travel help kept pouring in, she decided to pause the book to launch The Chic Insider Guide To Greece as a travel concierge service.
Today, Melanie splits her time between the New York area and Greece. In the Summer, you’ll find her at her seaside home in Rhodes or hopping around her favorite islands in the Dodecanese. Winters are for Athens - immersed in its flourishing culinary and art scene - or for long drives through the mountains of the mainland.