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. 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. Meloddy is a recent graduate of the MFA in Social Documentation program at UC Santa Cruz. She serves as the Social Media Coordinator for the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc). Meloddy is excited to share her directorial debut SWIMMING LESSONS, a personal documentary about her transoceanic family’s lost goodbyes.