OCA Intern Alum: Meloddy Gao
Interview by Skyler Murao / Written by Amelia Lagna, Skyler Murao, and Kent Tong
MANY STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE PRESSURE of having to know exactly what they want to do in college. But if you were to ask Meloddy Gao for advice, she’d tell you to trust the timing of your life—that this is the perfect time to explore your interests, both familiar and unexpected. Seven years ago, she was an undergraduate at Indiana University studying environmental management and, through the OCA summer internship program, was placed to work at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Now, she’s a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. “When I was in the internship in 2018, I had no idea I wanted to go into filmmaking,” she says. “It’s crazy looking back and seeing where I am now.”
Gao grew up in the Indianapolis suburbs, the eldest daughter of Chinese immigrants. She attended predominantly white schools, where there weren’t many opportunities to explore her Asian American identity. This sparked her interest in Asian American advocacy once she started college: “It made me hungry for more representation, which has really shaped why I do what I do now.”
She learned about OCA and was encouraged to apply to its internship program by a former intern, Molly Clark. Gao interned at the EPA’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs during the first Trump administration, when many environmental protection policies were being rolled back. When things like this happen, it can feel like no one cares, she says, “but, if anything, it made me see that there are people who really care, who continue showing up every day to fight for what is right.”
Outside the office, the summer proved equally transformative. Gao attended her very first protest with her OCA intern cohort in support of Dreamers and undocumented immigrants. Though she had started to get more politically involved on campus before the internship, she had been hesitant to attend protests. “I felt like I needed permission to speak out,” she recalls. But attending this protest and feeling supported by her cohort made her more confident to speak out for what she believes in. “That protest became a catalyst for me being more vocal than I had ever been about my politics.” The OCA internship gave her a community of passionate, like-minded peers who spent many late nights imagining a better future together: “Having that space to imagine, This is my wildest dream, how can we make this happen? I think that was really, really meaningful.”
Meloddy Gao (second from the right) with her OCA internship cohort in 2018
Gao’s interest in storytelling deepened after taking Asian American studies and independent filmmaking classes at IU, where she learned that, while mainstream media often ignored Asian American stories, there’s actually a longstanding “treasure trove” of media telling them: “There are so many incredible people, like Patsy Mink and Tammy Duckworth, who are working in politics that there are films about, and I wish we had access to them as kids.” After her OCA internship, she interned for a congressman, thinking she wanted a political career. But after experiencing anxiety and burnout for the first time, she realized that, despite her passion, it wasn’t a mentally sustainable path.
After graduation, Gao moved back home—which she never thought she'd do—and took time to reset. Working as a barista for a year while exploring side gigs in filmmaking, she spent weekends helping on productions, carrying equipment, and learning as much as she could. “That became kind of my foray,” she says, “to kind of test the career out before committing to grad school.” She would go on to earn a master’s degree in social documentation at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a program combining social justice and documentary filmmaking. Since graduating in 2024, she has been screening her thesis film Swimming Lessons—which follows a child of Chinese immigrants visiting her parents’ home country, seeking to “understand her transoceanic family’s expression of grief”—at film festivals across the country.
Today, Gao works as a communications coordinator for the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc), highlighting and uplifting AANHPI documentary filmmakers. She’s also a fellow with Visual Communications, a nonprofit supporting AAPI filmmakers, where she’s currently working on her second film, Ramen Western, a fully animated film about a Chinese American girl exploring the American West with a bowl of sentient ramen. “I feel incredibly lucky right now to be doing what I’m doing,” she says. “I can look back and see how everything I’ve done has led me here.”
This past April, Gao returned to her alma mater as a keynote speaker at IU’s Asian Culture Center. While initially experiencing a bout of imposter syndrome, she realized the value of sharing her story with the next generation. Emphasizing the importance of political engagement—especially at a time when student protests are being repressed—she advised students to take time to nurture their passions and discover their own paths. Gao is living proof of it.