Of Mexican and Afro-American descent, Dyer grew up in a hard-working, middleclass, Catholic family, son of the late Lewis Edgar Dyer (1932-2005), a successful security entrepreneur, and of Shirley Anne (nee’ Poindexter) Dyer, a retired Howard University administrator of thirty-six years. The Spanish translation of his unusual birth-name, Miraculous, is not at all uncommon in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, and 'Mel' is a first grade teacher’s nickname for him.
He is a cousin of New York Times journalist, Brent Staples, musical composers, Bobby and Richard Poindexter [Thin Line Between Love And Hate], TV wrestling bad guy, Nano Ortega, and a somewhat more distant cousin of Senator John F. Kerry.
In 1997, Dyer joined Leadership Directories Inc., as Assistant Editor of the Federal Regional Yellow Book, a comprehensive directory of federal agencies, and in 1999, he and three friends started The Manhattan Journal, an online magazine for comic fans, called that ran until Spring of 2001. After the publishers went their separate ways, he joined the Center for Disability and Socioeconomic Studies, serving as its Communications Manager, until April of 2002.
Prior to beginning a career in publishing, Dyer earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Howard University, where he minored in Human Communications Studies, and interned with The Larry King Radio Show (then, at Mutual Broadcasting System).
Presently, he is an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill, a non-profit organization serving the Washington, DC area. In 2007, through Kiwanis, he tutored inner city youth, while volunteering with the Southeast White House, a community service organization based in Southeast Washington.