Forty Under 40: Melisa Laelan

Melisa Laelan is the nation’s only certified court interpreter for Marshallese. She served 10 years in the U.S. Army and reached the rank of sergeant before she settled in Northwest Arkansas and helped found a nonprofit to support the Marshallese community.

Laelan credits her personal successes to a natural curiosity about the world and a firm sense of discipline that she developed as a young girl in her native Marshall Islands.

“I’m just a hardworking person like any other, but I’ve always had a desire to learn new things and was very disciplined at an early age,” Laelan says.

Nearly 10 years ago, Laelan was working as a deputy for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office when she noticed Marshallese families struggling to understand court proceedings. She contacted the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts to pursue certification.

Her nonprofit, Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese, has helped military veterans seek citizenship, built a community garden to provide fresh produce to Marshallese churches, and led an effort to make driver’s license tests available in Marshallese.

Laelan aims to obtain a law degree and continue working in advocacy, and she hopes someday to serve as a diplomat.

Earlier this year, she was appointed to the Arkansas Minority Health Commission.