California native, Melina Farahmand, is a storyteller at heart, an American activist, writer, and video editor. At twelve years of age, she founded Past Present Future Co., a news and media entity to educate, inspire, and cultivate a world in which women’s empowerment and sustainability issues are debated and discussed. Through a vibrant conversation of the relevant problems of the day, Melina believes people can bring about change in their communities. National leaders have recognized her work and have encouraged her to keep fighting for the things she believes in dearly. She has received numerous letters of commendation from former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Harris (now Vice President Harris), Senator Alex Padilla, and Representative Ted Lieu. Over the past few years, her goals have expanded exponentially by engaging with other organizations such as UNICEF, Food for Life Vrindavan, World Wildlife Fund, and more. She served as the president of the UNICEF club she founded from her sophomore year to her senior year of high school. 

Melina is incredibly passionate about environmental sustainability and protection, science, and democracy advocacy. In 2020, she put together a video campaign titled ‘History is Watching’ that featured over 60 individuals encouraging their fellow citizens to vote in the upcoming election. As guardians of our democracy, she believes we have a moral obligation to exercise our sacred right. 

In 2018, as a high school student, she published her debut book “From Dust to Breath,” and in the summer of 2019, an updated edition was released, “From Dust to Breath: Finding Our Place in the Circle of Life.” The new version of the book would become number one in new releases in Amazon’s “ethics” section. Aside from running her company and being a student, Melina is also the Social Media Manager and Director of Marketing for a Los Angeles—based production company whose mission is to create films on issues that matter by highlighting change-makers around the globe. She began her work with them as a high school freshman and continues to work with them to tell the stories the world needs to hear. Additionally, she has utilized her dual-language capability in working for Los Angeles-based Iranian-American publication, Rah-e-Zendegi. Her first article was published freshman year of high school and was well received by many. Since then, she has written over 24 pieces for the publication.

Melina adheres to a creed that ordinary people, through their strength, can come together and do extraordinary things to transform the world for the betterment of all.

Her second book, When the Stars Collide, was published on July 31st, 2021. In July of 2022 she was inducted into the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame as an honorable martial artist. Melina recently launched a new initiative, Guardians of Our Democracy (GOOD).