Melissa travels the world as a food and travel journalist and has also co-authored and edited several best selling cookbooks, including Dan Hong’s Mr Hong and The Great Australian Cookbook. Augmenting her communications experience with radio broadcasting on ABC Melbourne and television presenting on shows aired on SBS and Channel Ten, there’s not much this writer at heart won’t do for the sake of communicating dynamic experiences across any medium that will have her.
Her writing muscles flex from critical and technical writing across advertising, design, fashion and lifestyle as well as food, to recipe development and editing, cookbook ghost writing, advertising copywriting/concept development and social media content development.
Past and present publications and brands Melissa has worked with in journalism or copy, include as restaurant critic for Delicious Magazine, columnist for News Corp’s Stellar Magazine and Escape Travel, Rare Medium Journal, Murdoch Books/Allen & Unwin, Random House and Blackwell & Ruth (nee: PQ Blackwell) publishers, UDKU, Mash Creative, FBi Radio, Ciao Magazine, Fairfax Everyday Eats and Good Food Shopping Guides, Time Out Sydney and Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guides.
With a background in digital advertising and media, Melissa started her career on a high, working with brands such as Coca Cola, Nokia and LG. Getting in on the ground floor of the social media explosion gave her a priceless crash course in integrating digital with the traditional media mix, while growing brands such as Adriano Zumbo, Gelato Messina and Meat & Livestock Australia. Most recently, she has been involved in comms strategy and copy for brands including Qantas, David Jones, The City of Port Phillip, and KPMG. She has just published her first solo book, a children’s book called A Taste Adventure (Five Mile Press).