About Melissa DeCapua

Introduction

Thank you for stopping by! I’m Melissa, and I write fiction that examines systems of power. I draw from a professional background in psychiatry and big tech and personal experiences growing up Catholic in the Bible Belt, USA. I am currently focused on the Goretti Project, a novel-in-stories that interrogates and reclaims the hagiographic myth of Saint Maria Goretti. I regularly experiment with AI in my writing practice and track my reflections and personal policy in Experiments with AI.

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Writing & Projects

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Backstory

Big Tech

I spent a decade at Microsoft and tech startups studying and applying my knowledge on human behavior to building products. During this time, I helped design software across healthcare, cybersecurity, web3, and AI. I had the unusual opportunity to work alongside high-level executives, government agencies, and Fortune 100 companies. Here, I observed how their decisions can ripple outward to shape entire generations and societies.

Psychiatry

I hold a doctorate degree in nursing and began my career as a psychiatric nurse practitioner diagnosing and treating mental illness. During this time, I wrote 100+ articles on the healthcare system and advocated for pro-nurse practitioner legislation. In these roles, I witnessed how entrenched hierarchies, and outdated systems often serve those at the top — while undermining the well-being of the very people they are meant to support.

Lived Experience

I was born in the United States and raised Catholic in a politically conservative and patriarchal family. I moved often, mostly across the Midwest and Bible Belt, attending 6 different schools before 8th grade. Today, these experiences remind me that what feels personal (opportunity, safety, joy) is actually structural: shaped by systems optimized (at best) to maintain and (at worst) to expand the power of a few.

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Values

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