Meloddy Gao (she/her) is a Chinese American filmmaker, multimedia artist, and community organizer. Originally from Indiana, her work is shaped by her experiences growing up as the child of immigrants in the midwest suburbs. She studied environmental management and sustainable fashion at Indiana University, graduating from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Formerly pursuing a career in environmental policymaking, Meloddy turned to storytelling after realizing the glaring gaps between marginalized communities and access to political processes of change. Her fascination for discovering humanity and humor in absurdity, along with her colorful visual style, form the basis of her storytelling. She serves as the Social Media Coordinator for the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc) and recently graduated with her MFA in Social Documentation at UC Santa Cruz. Meloddy’s directorial debut SWIMMING LESSONS, a personal documentary about her transoceanic family’s lost goodbyes, premiered at the 2024 San Diego Asian Film Festival.