Melissa Powers Email & Phone Number

• Articles and essays in The New York Times, Real Life Mag, NBC, The Wall Street Journal, and more.• Curator for My Lot is a Sky ('18, Math Paper Press), a poetry anthology by Asian women; original fiction and poetry in locally published Singaporean anthologies.• Astrologer for Shondaland (’19-20), wrote columns for each month and special calendar events.• Worked with a small team on time-sensitive copy and press releases for the viral Gravel 2020 campaign.• Hosted podcasts Asian Oscar Bait & True Crime Asia (featured in Mother Jones, The A.V. Club, Vulture).You can find writing samples at: https://www.melpowers.com/writingportfolio

Rochester, Ny, Us

Workinman is a full-service design and development studio for cross-platform games, connected toys, and interactive exhibits. As Senior Project Manager, I guided teams through the delivery of projects that met both internal and client standards for creative excellence, while maintaining and growing relationships on behalf of the company. • Concurrently led several remote teams of engineers, designers, and other creatives to produce games and interactive experiences for a diverse range of clientele and platforms*.• Oversaw full product lifecycle: from pre-production (onboarded talent, defined scope), through production (kept design documents and schedules current), to final handover of builds & assets to client. • Conducted weekly meetings with clients to present deliveries and align on priorities, refining concepts within budget/scope and filtering feedback effectively to engineers, designers, and higher ups.• Presented internally to executives and other team leads on a weekly basis to share learnings, voice feedback, and flag risks early in the development process.*Projects I led included: museum exhibits with challenging hardware requirements (interactive game based on RFID sensors); a multi-language Android app for a major children's education brand, targeting areas with limited Internet availability; a mobile game mixing blockchain and geolocation services for a financial startup.

Santa Monica, California, Us

• In close collaboration with 3 other student interns: Pitched and storyboarded 25+ Snapchat Lens concepts, selected 4 to fully prototype for a research paper on “meaningful co-located AR.” • Rapidly iterated on Lens concepts, translated daily stakeholder feedback into actionable directives for engineers and designers to implement.• Helped recruit and remotely interview study participants, presented findings to Snap leadership (including CTO). • Co-wrote research paper, accepted for publication by ACM CHI as part of their 2023 conference.

• Managed pay, contracts, and travel for A-list actors, writers, and production staff on 17 editorial features for a limited-edition print magazine. Gave updates during meetings and kept minutes.

New York, Ny, Us

• Pitched and developed new extensions of IP owned by Hachette: from innovative media adaptations (e.g., chatbots, podcasts) to traditional licensed merchandise (e.g., calendars, stationery).• Oversaw production of 12 full-length audiobooks* for Wattpad partnership, after evaluating best titles for adaptation based on metrics.*Directed casting, art, script edits, and managed production.

Shanghai, Shanghai, Cn

• Assessed film scripts for DreamWorks' China branch on craft, brand fit, global marketability, and cultural sensitivity.

Shanghai, Shanghai, Cn

WRITING• Wrote dialogue, in-game/online copy, localized text, quests, and more on titles such as: F2Pmobile game Horse Haven, AAA console game Far Cry 5, and MMO Tom Clancy’s EndWar Online.SOCIAL MEDIA / COMMUNITY• Led Horse Haven and Trolls’ online strategy: writing content for social media, acting as non-technical customer support, communicating player feedback to mobile development team.• Tripled Horse Haven Instagram followers (4k to 15k) and grew Facebook likes (91k to 131k).PROJECT MANAGEMENT• Built new scheduling processes to sync game development updates with social media calendar.• Made monthly ComDev plans and weekly Customer Relations reports for Ubisoft Mobile team (for Trolls, also to DreamWorks' Marketing team).

London, Gb

• Wrote press summaries and releases for BBC Worldwide, maintaining press room.• Conducted research project on audience reception to Doctor Who Season 8.• Tracked and shipped 100s of physical review copies for upcoming series, as well as new merchandise launches; troubleshooting with FedEx staff and recipients when necessary.

• Assisted in organization of annual Irish Screen America film festival in NYC and created promotional materials.• Reviewed submissions for San Francisco Irish Film Festival and assisted in writing response letters.

New York, Ny, Us

• Producer of in-house content; wrote promotional scripts, assisted on-set, edited material to air.• Wrote and translated synopses of foreign acquisitions for HBO Screen Red.

Sg

• Crafted draft series bibles and narrative arcs for two greenlit shows.• For historical procedural crime show: Brainstormed cases, assisted in casting, and wrote spec scripts based on historical true crime, sourced from "The Straits Times" newspaper archives (1950-80).

New York, Ny, Us

• Wrote several articles for the China Real Time blog. • Assisted with research project documenting law enforcement response to local government corruption.

Master Of Professional Studies (Mps), Interactive Telecommunications

Bachelor Of Fine Arts (Bfa), Dramatic Writing