About Me

 My name is Melissa S. Brayman and I’m running for New Castle County Council President. 

New Castle County has been my home for over 40 years. Born in Costa Rica as Melissa Salinas Sibaja, I moved to Delaware with my mother at the age of two so that she could pursue her masters degree at the University of Delaware. After my mother remarried, we both became proud US citizens and I took the name Melissa S. Brayman. My mother was life-long educator, first as a French professor at the University of Delaware, and later as a Spanish teacher at various area high schools. My stepdad worked as an insurance agent. My grandparents were well known in the Newark community; my grandmother as head secretary for the University of Delaware’s Health Services Center, and my grandfather as principal of Christiana Junior High School and later Central Middle School in Newark.  

I’m a graduate of Newark High School, where I played women’s lacrosse, was a baton twirler in the Yellowjacket marching band, and participated in the school’s HOLA Spanish club. I attended the University of Delaware on a full academic scholarship, and graduated with a Bachelors in Entomology with a Concentration in Wildlife Conservation. 

Upon graduating from the University of Delaware, and realizing that I did not want to pursue a career in Entomology, I spent some time as a substitute teacher with a long term assignment at Thomas Edison Charter School as a K-6 spanish teacher. At the age of 24, I became an insurance agent with Horace Mann Insurance Company, serving educators in and around the Brandywine School district. Two years later, I converted a former barber shop on Maryland Ave into a small, family run insurance office with my stepdad, who was also an insurance agent with Horace Mann Insurance. Several years later, I transitioned to the life insurance operations department at HSBC Bank in New Castle where I was quickly promoted to Team Lead. In 2011, I moved my family to Costa Rica, to accept the position of Senior Branch Manager for HSBC Latin America. When HSBC Costa Rican operations were later sold to a Colombian bank, I spent the remainder of my time in Costa Rica on a variety of projects and roles including opening a beachside restaurant, managing a 24 hour customer service center, and – my favorite – working as a middle school math teacher at a couple of bilingual private schools. 

In 2016, I returned to Delaware and worked for the English Language Institute at the University of Delaware before returning to the insurance industry, this time in the group health benefits arena at Ascela, where I quickly moved up the ranks to become Manager of the Account Services Team. In February 2020, with COVID quickly approaching, I was laid off from my job at Ascela and made a pivot to the non-profit world when I accepted my current role as Office Administrator at the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce. 

When I’m not working, I volunteer for a small 501(c)(3) nonprofit called Alianza Delaware, which serves the Latino community in Delaware, and I serve as the Secretary of the One Commerce Center Condominium Council in Wilmington. 

In addition to my Bachelors degree, I also hold a Paralegal Certificate from Delaware Technical and Community College, and I am currently pursuing a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Accounting from Goldey-Beacom College. I am the proud mother of a 18 year-old daughter who is a senior at Padua Academy this year. I live in Pike Creek, and in my spare time I enjoy gardening, salsa dancing, traveling, and snowboarding.