About our Thought-Leader and Creator!

Melissa Crook is a woman in her 50’s who currently lives in Fresno, CA with the great love of her life, best friend, spouse, and father of their children, Brady Crook. Melissa loves her husband, her daughters, her son-in-law, the beach, the lake, sunsets, mountains (you can take a woman out of the Pacific Northwest (PNW), but you can’t take the PNW out of the woman ;) ), the WSU Cougs, the 49ers, the Dodgers, and the Olympics (especially track). She’s passionate, driven, loyal, fierce, and brave. She believes in justice, mercy, equality, and empathy for ALL.

Melissa is available to speak to your group about the importance of women understanding their value and worthiness when it comes to prioritizing their self-care and overall health. She speaks to the steps she has used in her own experience to set healthy boundaries and embrace her beautiful and complex layers. To schedule a collaboration with Melissa, fill out our contact form.

Melissa’s Journey:

The month that I turned 50 and was 2 weeks into our latest move to Lubbock, TX, I ended up in the ER twice over a 10 day period with various symptoms, including racing heart beat, sky high blood pressure, and a bladder control issue. After scores of tests and a trip to the cardiologist, it was determined that outside of hormones due to menopause, there was nothing seriously physically wrong with me. There was however a serious issue with anxiety, codependency, performing and producing for approval, intrusive thoughts around health, and no peace or contentment in my life despite my very faith based life.

Thus began my journey in connecting the dots to how unprocessed, denied, stuffed, dissociated feelings and emotions have a direct effect on our physical health and emotional and spiritual peace.  As I have traveled this healing journey since the Fall of 2019, I have learned so many things that I want to share with other women, hoping they can learn and be inspired to embark on their own health journey and desire to live their best, healthiest, most content life, and/ or avoid some of the mistakes I made, and put good practices into place now so not to find themselves in a similar situation to the one I found myself in in September 2019.  This is why I created Embracing Layers: The FEEL Podcast, a podcast for women dedicated to finding empowerment, embracing layers, and the journey towards living unapologetically.

• I introduce listeners to people that I have various levels of relationship and association with who, in my experience with them, live out their best lives with true intent and health, in their own unique way

• I introduce each guest by their character traits rather than their accolades and experiences, to send the message that who we are and where our value is based is not in what we do, but what our character traits are and the value we were created with.

• “What they do” is featured in the show notes and on the website

I hope you will join me on this journey :)

Radio Host:

In addition to being the creator and host our podcast, Melissa is also the creator and host of our very own Embracing Layers Radio Show! Our Radio Show kicked off on January 1st, and airs live every single Monday from 9 AM - 3 PM EST on 360 Talk Radio for Women! In each episode, Melissa brings on friends from our Network to discuss that week’s theme with her.