We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Ann Pollack a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Melissa Ann, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path the first time I stepped onto a pageant stage at 18. I was a small-town girl from West Virginia, and suddenly I was standing there in full glam, lights on me, realizing I could step into a version of myself that felt bold, powerful, and alive. That moment led to my first modeling jobs, then commercials, calendars, and eventually seeing myself on billboards — and once you’ve driven past your own face at 60 miles an hour, it changes you. You realize you don’t just want to participate in the world — you want to shape it.
That experience opened the door to acting, reality TV, and producing. What started with pageants and print work grew into a 30-year career that now includes being an aesthetic RN, a TV personality, starring and one of the executive producers of the upcoming show No Apologies. I spent years in front of the camera, but now I’m just as passionate about what happens behind it — creating space for women who refuse to age out, quiet down, or shrink themselves to fit an industry mold.
And now, after three decades in this space, I’m more interested in impact than perfection — and more excited about what’s next than what’s already been done.
Melissa Ann, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a former beauty queen turned model, actress, aesthetic RN, entrepreneur, and now executive producer — but the heart of my work has always been the same: helping women feel powerful in their own skin, on their own terms, and at every age. I was born and raised in West Virginia, built my career in Southern California, and somewhere between red carpets, medical scrubs, and motherhood, I learned that reinvention isn’t something you do once — it’s a lifestyle.
As an aesthetic registered nurse, I’ve spent decades working with real women — mothers, executives, survivors, celebrities — and I learned very early that beauty is not vanity. Beauty is identity, courage, and healing. In the media industry, I saw the same pattern: women over 40 weren’t fading — they were being edited out. That realization is what fuels my work now.
Today, my career sits at the intersection of beauty, storytelling, and empowerment. I still see patients. I still walk red carpets. I still model. But now I’m also producing the kind of content I wish existed years ago — starting with No Apologies, the The series will stream on Brandon TV, and it spotlights women who’ve lived, lost, rebuilt, succeeded, and refused to shrink. No filters. No expiration dates. No apologies.
What sets me apart is that I don’t just talk empowerment — I’ve had to live it. I built my career while raising three children, rebuilding my life more than once, and refusing to let the world decide when my moment was “over.” My brand is glam, yes — but it’s also real, resilient, and rooted in purpose.
If people take one thing from my work, I want it to be this:
You don’t age out of your dreams. You evolve into them.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding part of being a creative is watching something I imagined turn into an experience that changes how someone sees themselves. Whether I’m sculpting a face in my injector chair, stepping into a character on set, or producing a show that lets women tell the truth about their lives, the transformation is the art — not the glam.
My creativity isn’t limited to one lane. Sometimes it’s medical artistry, sometimes it’s visual storytelling, sometimes it’s fashion or branding — but the purpose is always the same: to help women see what’s still possible for them. When a patient looks in the mirror and says, “I finally feel like myself again,” or a viewer messages me and says, “Thank you for representing women my age,” that’s the reward. That’s the fuel.
With No Apologies, I get to take that same creative energy from the treatment room and bring it to the screen — building something that proves women don’t expire, they evolve. Showcasing cultural likes and differences. It’s reality TV so you never know what to exspect!
My art is confidence. The tools just change.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
One of the biggest tests of my resilience came when I realized the world had silently decided I was “done” — not because I’d lost talent, drive, or relevance, but because I had crossed an age line the industry doesn’t like to talk about. You don’t get an email that says, “Thank you, your time here is over.” But the auditions slow down, the callbacks stop coming, the younger version of you starts getting booked, and suddenly you’re watching an industry you helped build act like you’ve expired.
That could’ve been the end of my story — but instead, it became the beginning of my reinvention. I didn’t shrink myself, soften my voice or pretend to be younger. I doubled down. I built a career as an aesthetic RN. I raised three incredible kids. I got back on camera. I got back on red carpets. And now, instead of waiting for permission to be seen, I’m executive producing my own show, No Apologies, streaming soon on Brandon TV.
That’s resilience to me — not bouncing back to where you were, but rising into something bigger than what you were ever offered.
I wasn’t too old. The vision I had just got too big to fit inside someone else’s box.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @melissa.ann.pollack
- Facebook: Melissa Ann Pollack
- Linkedin: Melissa Ann Pollack
