Melanie C. Johnson, Patch Staff

Phone: 909-560-3791

Hometown: Carson and Long Beach, CA (now Walnut)

Birthday: Aug. 5

Bio: Melanie C. Johnson is a writer and lover of all things escapism, including books, movies, music and television. She loves art, theater, travel and anything her dad cooks. She is a diehard Lakers fan. She also is the editor of your Walnut Patch.

Melanie grew up in Carson and Long Beach. She also lived in Diamond Bar for several years and is there regularly visiting her mom. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Cal Poly Pomona in 1997 and a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University in New York in 1999. 

Most recently, Melanie worked as a reporter for the Press-Enterprise newspaper in Riverside. She covered cities and school districts. She also worked as a former city and education reporter for the San Bernardino Sun, covering some of the largest school districts in the state. There she earned back-to-back first place awards in 2001 and 2002 for education coverage from the Society of Professional Journalists, Inland Empire chapter.

Now, she is bringing her love of journalism, writing and people to her job as the editor of Diamond Bar-Walnut Patch!