Draft:Melissa Zhao Jones

Melissa Zhao Jones (born 1976) is a creative director, director and producer. She is the founder of creative agency DTE studio and motion picture arts company Hyperphantasia in New York.

Early Career
Born and raised in Hong Kong to a Shanghainese painter and an Australian writer, Melissa Zhao Jones left Hong Kong at age 17 to attend Rhode Island School of Design where she majored in Graphic Design. Jones moved to New York upon graduation in 1998, where she began her career in the music industry working at Tommy Boy Music as an Art Director. Her work as Art Director can be seen on albums like Coolio's Fantastic Voyage: The Greatest Hits, Victor Calderone's E=VC², and various MTV compilation albums among others. In addition to Art Direction, she also Produced Arthur Russell's album Calling Out of Context on Audika Records prior to leading the creative teams at V Magazine, Visionaire, and V Man.

In 2012, Jones directed the music video for The Rapture's single "In the Grace of Your Love". Her career expanded to working with fashion and luxury companies when she founded DTE studio in 2008. She has worked with designer Karl Lagerfeld, Carolina Herrera's Wes Gordon, and brands such as Cartier and Fendi. Jones has won Telly Awards for Best in Direction, Branded Content, and Social.

Current Work
Melissa Zhao Jones is the founder of Hyperphantasia, a women-led motion picture arts company that creates narratives in Web3 and Film. As the founder, creative director and producer of Hyperphantasia, she has worked with many celebrities, ranging from actresses, musicians and supermodels. She is credited as the Director, Producer, Cinematographer, and Editor for The Kiss I and II, video NFTs starring actress Jemima Kirke and musician Alex Cameron which sold out in under 24 hours. Jones was the Director, Producer, and Sound Designer for Cynthia Erivo's first NFT, Glass Star: Cynthia Erivo, released as part of The Dream Collection. She is also credited as the Director, Producer and Sound Designer For On Dreams: Suki Waterhouse, a video NFT featuring actress, musician and model Suki Waterhouse laying on a mattress with animated diamonds raining down on her, narrating a dream. Both of these NFTs were a part of The Dream Collection, which also featured Dree Hemingway, Jourdan Dunn, Zella Day and among other women.

Jones is also Editor-in-Chief of Masthead Magazine, which she founded in 2017. Masthead Magazine is large format online publication bringing together influential voices in entertainment, design, architecture and the arts that is designed to "create a dialogue that inspires and allows us to consider ideas as a whole and with meaning for the long term." The magazine's first issue On: Beauty was photographed by Michael Avedon, the grandson of Richard Avedon, and featured interviews and portraits of Billie Eilish and Francesco Clemente among others. Its second issue On: Technology was photographed by the esteemed Scottish photographer Albert Watson. For this issue, Jones collaborated with Barbie Ferriera, Waris Ahluwalia, Coco Rocha and more, and its launch was celebrated with a party in NYC. Other issues of Masthead Magazine include On: Design, On: Self and On: Dreams, and they feature Tilda Swinton, Sia, Marina Abramovic, Michael Stipe, Cher among many other thinkers and leaders in their fields. Jones collaborated with William Wegman to photograph an entire issue, On: Aliens, with his iconic dogs Topper and Flo.

Awards

 * Telly Awards: GOLD WINNER: FASHION & LIFESTYLE — BRANDED CONTENT, Credited as Director
 * Telly Awards: SILVER WINNER: BUDGET UNDER $100,000 — BRANDED CONTENT, Credited as Director
 * Telly Awards: BRONZE WINNER: DIRECTING — BRANDED CONTENT, Credited as Director
 * Telly Awards: BRONZE WINNER: SOCIAL — BRANDED CONTENT, Credited as Director