Melon (nee Mary Ellen) Dash founded Miracle Swimming School for Adults in Berkeley, CA in 1983 to teach adults who were afraid in water to overcome their fear and swim. The secret is to become fully present—by having fun—for moments when you usually "lose it." She wrote the first edition of Conquer Your Fear of Water in 2006, produced a how-to DVD, hosted thirteen episodes of The Learn to Swim Show on internet radio, and added a dozen new concepts to the Aquatics industry that are changing the way swimming is taught. She co-authored Conquer Your Fear of the Triathlon Swim with Ali Meeks in 2020. She’s trained instructors worldwide in her system, a new paradigm of learning and teaching which cannot fail: complete presence of mind. Her patent for the Aquatic Learning Station was granted in 2022.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NBC's Today Show, CNN's Headline News, Psychology Today, Real Simple, Tampa Bay Times, and dozens more.

She resides in Sarasota, Florida. She has been nationally ranked in four events as a masters swimmer. "Drowning is on its way out."