Melva Sampson is assistant professor of preaching and practical theology at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She earned a PhD at Emory University in Atlanta, a Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and a Master of Arts in Human Communication Studies at Howard University in Washington, D C. Sampson has served in ministry roles at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta and at First Afrikan Church in Lithonia, Georgia. She is an ordained minister of the Progressive National Baptist Convention and an ordained ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, U S A. Sampson is the creator and curator of Pink Robe Chronicles and Raising Womanish Girls, digital platforms used to illuminate the role of sacred memory and ritual in the collective healing of marginalized communities.