Rhona Melsky
Founder and Editorial Director
Rhona Melsky was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, but left at the age of 7 when her family moved to the suburbs. Her family then moved to Arizona when she was 14. She never felt at home since leaving New York City.
She began studying classical voice and opera at the age of 12 as well as classical guitar and then piano. At 19, she moved back to New York and lived in Queens, at first hoping to get into the music scene, fronting a local punk/new wave band.
The idea of Female Fronted came to her about 2015 and originally included two friends, Mary Jo Scibetta, a graphic designer and art director, and Melissa Slavsky, a digital strategist. Mary Jo was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2016 and died within three weeks of her diagnosis at the age of 54.
Melissa and Rhona are still great friends, but Melissa has gone on to create her own digital strategy company, Compassion Digital. Rhona thought about the Female Fronted project for the past two years but did nothing about it. However, after seeing the New York City-based band Liza Colby Sound, she was inspired to just go for it. And here we are, celebrating women who rock in everything they do. “Screw it. I’m 56, have nothing to lose, so I’m doing it. Let’s see what happens.” – Rhona Melsky
Rhona shares her home and her life with three senior rescue dogs and her husband, educator and drummer, Roger Cardillo.
While working as a secretary at a publishing company, she finally decided to attend college. She graduated with a B.A. from Queens College, City University of New York, receiving her degree in English with a focus on writing. Her career began directly after college as an editorial assistant then soon a copy editor of trade magazines in Manhattan, where she lived for many years.
After marrying her husband, Roger Cardillo, in 1997, they eventually moved to New Jersey. However, after the 9/11 tragedy and the untimely death of her father in Arizona, the couple moved to Arizona to help family. Arizona never felt like home, and she longed to move back East.
One important aspect of Arizona included that she became involved in the animal rescue and advocacy world. It began after she was sent to do a story about Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, a 501 (c)(3) horse rescue, of which she currently sits on the board of directors.
Rhona and her husband moved back to the East Coast in July 2017. As her career had a terrible setback while living in Arizona, she also noticed she was facing ageism as early as her mid-40s. She finally started to get a variety of different contract jobs after she moved back home.
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