Melissa Hesse

Creative Director

I am a Southern California native raised in the San Gabriel Valley, a mom to two amazing young men, Jake (22) and Zach (21) and have been happily married (ok not all day every day but most days) to my husband of 25 years, Bill.
I don't have a degree in art but somehow have made it my career. I started at Z Gallerie back in 1993 as a part time sales associate while going to college. I spent the next 14 years there, holding almost every position possible there but always found the art department my home. After 6 years in the stores, i moved into the corpororate office and spent the next 8 years in the art department as the Merchandise Planner and Assistant Buyer. I would help select the artwork for, at that time 70+ stores. I went on buying trips, worked with publishers and wholesale framers on new merchandise for the stores. FUN was the best way I could describe it. I grew up at Z Gallerie, met lifelong friends (Michelle and Fabian included!), got married, had kids, bought our first house..it was such a great time in my life! After 14 years I made the leap to Third and Wall Art Group which was a vendor we purchased posters from. Their line was fresh and contemporary, I loved every piece we carried from them. I have been with Third and Wall for almost 15 years and have been recently promoted to Creative Director. I service a small number of accounts which helps me keep my finger on the pulse of what our client's needs. The industry has changed so much over the past 15 years. We no longer carry posters but have moved to Print on Demand where the sky is the limit!! We are able to customize artwork to fit the scope of any project by changing color, creating pieces, cropping existing imagery to fit a certain size etc. It's amazing to see what our creative team is capable of doing! I can't draw a stick, but somehow, I am able to envision what something would look like with a few tweaks here and there. My kids call me an 'Art Editor' and in some ways that might be the most accurate description of what I do.