Evolution & Experience

Prior to founding Seymour Projects and focusing on her own practice, Melissa worked with a broad range of individuals and organizations, including long term roles at the following cultural institutions: Tribeca Productions, Jumbo Pictures, Ad Council, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, artnet, and the Creative Growth Art Center.

Melissa began her professional journey in NYC during the late 1980s as a studio assistant to fashion and culture photographer Patrick Demarchelier. This internship was inspired by her collegiate photography studies and influenced by her late uncle, photographer Pierre Houlés.

In the early 1990s in London & Los Angeles, she worked as a production manager for music video director Ralph Ziman. Later having returned to New York, she held various production crew positions on feature films including The Age of Innocence, Quiz Show, and A Bronx Tale. During this decade, Melissa also spent several years as a personal assistant to preeminent actors, working closely with Daniel Day-Lewis and later, Robert De Niro.

In the late 90s during her time as Manager of Live Action Development at the children’s television company/animation studio Jumbo Pictures, Melissa encountered Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero, whose research explores creative approaches to education and human development. This led her to apply to the master’s program in Social Work at Columbia University, she was accepted, but ultimately chose to continue gaining experience outside of academia, in part due to her budding interest in leveraging the arts as a tool for self-development and social change.

From 1999-2004 Melissa was Vice President of Media Outreach at the Ad Council a U.S. non-profit organization known for building cross-sector coalitions to create innovative social-impact campaigns that accelerate change at scale. In this role, her focus was on nurturing fruitful partnerships with U.S. media outlets (television, radio, print and out-of-home) to expand the reach of these public service messages. In 2000, Melissa received Ad Council President Peggy Conlon’s Award for Exceptional Performance.

In 2004, Melissa moved to Paris, where she would live and work for nearly 15 years. She began this new chapter as Manager of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac a prominent international contemporary art gallery. She was tasked with guiding the team, upgrading efficiency of operations, and supporting the presentation of large-scale exhibitions at the Paris space and other external venues. This included engaging with numerous world-renowned artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Antony Gormley, Tom Sachs, & many others. These types of creative exchanges later extended to a series of one-on-one video interviews which she conducted during her time working at artnet.

From 2007-2009, Melissa collaborated with the Creative Growth Art Center, a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California that advances the inclusion of artists with developmental disabilities in contemporary art. Her role was to work closely with their Executive Director Tom Di Maria to help establish and raise visibility for their Paris outpost Galerie Impaire.

This experience led to her work as a freelance production, marketing & communications consultant for individuals in the arts, cultural organizations, and creative brands such as: Galerie Christian Berst, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, Vingt, and many more. In the early 2000s Melissa was also a founding member of the Paris-based ephemeral special events collective HELLO, MY NAME IS BILL through which she co-conceived and co-hosted a series of underground creative experiential happenings.

Melissa’s passion for Social Sculpture and her commitment to nurturing creatives, connecting people, ideas, and opportunities extended beyond the workplace to all aspects of her life. Ever dedicated to encouraging others to embark on uncommon creative journeys, she has catalyzed numerous projects across diverse cultural worlds.

In 2011, as a culmination of her experience, interests and desire for meaningful contribution, she founded Seymour Projects.

Education

Melissa holds a Baccalauréat degree in Philosophy from Lycée Français de New York (1985) and B.A. in English from Tufts University in Massachusetts (1989) which encompasses literary analysis, storytelling, linguistics and communication studies. She also studied photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, her focus was on Humanist and Existential visual narratives.

In more recent years, seeking to bolster her capacity to offer ethical non-clinical spiritual care in everyday and emergent contexts, Melissa has completed courses in Campus Chaplaincy through Union Theological Seminary and Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) administered by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.