Melissa Riker | The Happier Homemaker

Dishing Podcast

Melissa Riker is founder, recipe developer, and photographer behind The Happier Homemaker, a lifestyle blog focused on everyday recipes and home management for busy families.

Melissa is a former cancer researcher who left her career in the laboratory after having the first of three sons. She started her first blog in 2007 to keep in touch with family as a military spouse living far from home. The blog evolved to DIY and decorating as she and her husband undertook projects in the houses they bought, rented or built each time they relocated.

Melissa absolutely knows the stress that comes from managing a home: school, lunches, jobs, spouse, children. She founded The Happier Homemaker in 2011 with the hope of inspiring families to find joy in their homes again. Over the years, Melissa has grown her food blog into a six-figure business while moving four times in eight years, including a year spent abroad in the United Kingdom.

She and her husband Randy launched Riker Media, a lifestyle media company, in early 2019 and recently purchased a second, established food blog, Shaken Together Life, to add to their portfolio of websites.

When not behind the camera or laptop, Melissa travels extensively. She also enjoys her pets, gardening, bird watching and time behind her easel, painting.