Melinda Lou "Wendy" Thomas is the mascot as well as the namesake of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers since its founding in 1969.

Childhood
Melinda was born in Columbus; Ohio, on September 14, 1961 as the fourth child of Dave and Lorraine Thomas, and grew up in Upper Arlington. Due to her struggling with pronouncing L's and R's, she got the nickname "Wendy". In 1983 she graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in consumer behaviorism.

Career
With her being the mascot from Wendy's since the start she was only 8 years old as her career started.

She didn't appear in any other form of Wendy's related media till 1989, in form of getting mentioned by her father in the 80's commercial Taco Salad and only being heard in another 80's ad, making it the only one where she and her dad appear together. In 2010 she finally appeared in an ad on camera for the first time. The ad only aired in Las Vegas, Nevada; Mobile, Alabama and Virginia Beach; Virginia before being aired worldwide.

From 2012 on she started the ad series "The Wendy's Way" . She also made an appearance in Dave's Hot 'N Juicy Cheeseburger, a Cheesburger named after her father and founder Dave Thomas. The Burger was being test market in Las Vegas; Texas.

Sources:
•Wendy's.com
•Wikipedia
•Dave's Hot 'N Juicy Cheeseburger Ad
•Taco Salad Ad
•Wendy's Introduces Value Menue Ad