Melissa S. Craib Dombrowski

In late 1999, Melissa created a small website about her favorite novels (“The Wheel of Time” series by Robert Jordan) in the hopes of teaching herself HTML.  10 years later, TarValon.Net is an international 501(c)7 charitable social organization with an active membership of several thousand.  The organization not only serves to unite a community of fantasy literature fans, but also works to direct their collective efforts towards shared charitable and volunteer goals. 

In addition to organizing donation drives (winter coats, books, blood drives, etc.) and volunteer service drives, TarValon.Net has successfully run fundraisers for many organizations including:

• Heifer International
• Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)
• International Red Cross
• Susan G. Komen Foundation
• The Salvation Army
• Crisis Ministries

TarValon.Net also manages the “Robert Jordan Memorial Scholarship” for undergraduate students.  It was also a lead sponsor for “Ziggurat*Con”: the first official gaming convention held in an active war zone (for US and allied soldiers in Iraq).

TarValon.Net has an all-volunteer staff of over 150 people within 9 departments.  In addition to its philanthropic work, the organization has 4 large scale official functions annually between North America and Europe.  The website manages a wiki with over 3500 individual articles, a message board system with approximately 120 forums, and 3 official chat channels. 

Melissa has had the fortune to speak at several conventions on the subjects of fantasy literature and internet community building.  She has served as a thematic consultant on the “New Spring” comic book series (produced by Dabel Brothers), the cover art for the “Wheel of Time” youth edition paperbacks, and has been asked to do the same for an upcoming film project based on the series (Red Eagle Entertainment).