Elected to City Council in 2020, Melissa Enos has been an active member of the Goose Creek community since her dad received his final duty station at the City’s Naval Weapons Station in 1981. “I spent my formative years admiring his 30 years of service,” she said of her father. She joined SC WIL in 2024 as our Lowcountry Outreach Director.
Councilmember Enos began a lifelong pursuit of servitude at 14, when she was hired as a candy striper at Trident Hospital. After graduating from Goose Creek High School in 1996, she immediately joined the U.S. Navy as a Boatswains Mate and served aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, CVN 69 – the first combat vessel to allow women onboard – beginning in 1994. After completing one term and serving her commitment, she returned home to Goose Creek to focus on my family.
“As I settled in with my firstborn son, it was important to me to have a technical trade before preparing myself for college,” she said.
After completing cosmetology school and managing her first salon, she was ready to advance her business and education, and enrolled at Trident Technical College. “During that time, I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to join Phi Theta Kappa – an international honor society of two-year colleges – where I learned to put honors into action,” she said.
Phi Theta Kappa helped to further develop and nurture a love of serving others, and Councilmember Enos would become heavily involved in its philanthropic chapter, which did extensive research to identify the needs in our community and then turned that research into a plan of action. She earned two degrees at Trident Technical in Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Management Leadership and Development.
During that time, she was elected Chapter President of Alpha Epsilon Omicron’s local chapter. The following year, she was elected as the Carolinas Regional President of Phi Theta Kappa, where she presided over 81 two-year colleges in North and South Carolina. “Phi Theta Kappa taught me to truly listen to the community and to do the research on how to contribute effectively,” she said. “I believe it is not enough to simply be the voice of change; you have to be the ears of the community, too.”
After graduating, Councilmember Enos bought her first salon. One of the benefits of her business is the connection she makes with the community every day. “I found myself in a unique position to be the ear of the people in my city,” she said. “On a daily basis, I listen to the things that they want to change in a wide range of categories.”
As the former Cop Stop Coordinator for the Goose Creek Police Department and one of its founders, she extends that service still to the people who serve us daily while offering aid in coordinating other events for the Police Department. The mother of three – Nat, 24; Collin, 20; and Weston (Big) 11; she is determined to make positive changes in Goose Creek while modeling a life of purpose and servitude. “I can think of no better service than to serve the city that helped build me,” she said.