Melissa Sharman is a writer, advocate, and domestic and family violence specialist whose life is a testament to resilience and transformation. Once trapped in an abusive marriage, Melissa found the courage to break free—and then turned that experience into fuel for change. She has spoken in the Queensland Parliament and presented a petition signed by nearly 100,000 Australians, helping to reshape the state's domestic violence laws. Today she works in a refuge, supporting families as they take their first steps toward safety. Beyond her advocacy, Melissa has given hope in one of the most personal ways imaginable. As the founder of Egg Donation Australia, she has helped bring twenty-three babies into the world for fourteen families through egg donation and surrogacy—work that has shaped her understanding of love, loss, and the extraordinary lengths people go to for family. A winner of the Queensland Writers Centre / Hachette Manuscript Development Award, Melissa writes creative non-fiction and contemporary fiction that sits at the intersection of the deeply personal and the universally human. Her work has appeared across a wide range of Australian and international media, including The Today Show, The Project, ABC Radio National, Australian Women's Weekly, HuffPost USA, and Cosmopolitan USA.Her writing is shaped by lived experience, raw honesty, and the occasional streak of unexpected humour. She writes to understand, to connect, and to celebrate all the messy, magnificent ways we put ourselves back together.Melissa lives on the Gold Coast with her husband, children, and a growing collection of rescue dogs. Her debut memoir, The Beauty of Broken Things—a deeply personal story about turning pain into purpose, and finding beauty among the ruins—is available now for pre-order, releasing 3 May 2026.