Chris Mele of Siberia: How Lacrosse Set Him on the Path to Success

And maybe he'll write the Great American Novel one day

Chris is a principal and managing partner of digital innovation and product studio Siberia. With a background spanning branding, design and technology, Chris has worked alongside organizations including Bloomberg, the Whitney Museum, Google and Spotify. He’s helped them conceive, build and launch digital products and experiences.

We spent two minutes with Chris to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations and recent work he’s admired. 

Chris, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I was born in N.J., grew up on the north shore of Long Island. As of three years ago, my family and I are back on Long Island Sound in Suffolk County. 

How you first realized you were creative.

In first grade, while my family was living in Germany, my mother and I saw a poster for a theater company that was casting kids for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I made her take me to the audition. They ended up choosing my sister, who went on to major in theater. That’s my earliest memory of a creative inclination. 

A person you idolized creatively early on.

Kurt Cobain. I was the perfect age for Nevermind, and I think that album and In Utero are masterpieces. Something I felt about Nirvana, but didn’t come to appreciate until later, was their ability to strip pop songs to the essentials, but warp them through a filter of noise, attitude and weird lyrics to create a bizzaro version of The Beatles. That it caught on is mind blowing. It’s super cool—and I believe under-appreciated today. 

A moment from high school or college that changed your life.

My town had a Varsity Blues level of obsession around Lacrosse. From grade school on we were told we’d eventually win our state championship. The parents even had T-shirts made up when I was in the fifth grade that said “2000 State Champs” (no pressure). Our varsity team went 44-0 across my junior and senior years and won two Class-A state titles. That is absurdly hard to do. We learned how to work hard and as a high functioning team. I took a lot of that with me into my work and personal life. 

A visual artist or band/musician you admire.

I love The Ramones—their focus on simplicity and the essentials. They couldn’t care less about what was “cool” and were beautifully dysfunctional. My current favorite song is “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg.” Late period Ramones, baby!

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.

Movie: Bone Tomahawk. It’s funny, exciting, completely brutal—and Kurt Russell puts on a clinic in mustache styling. 

One of your favorite creative projects you’ve ever worked on. 

In 2015, while I was MD at Stinkdigital, we worked with Spotify to create and build the “Year in Music” experience, which eventually became the annual “Wrapped” campaign. It had all my jams—experience strategy, creativity, design craft, data, complex systems development—and it caught on with culture.

A recent project you’re proud of. 

We recently teamed up with Bloomberg to think through the future of digital news consumption. Real journalism from trusted sources is critical.

Someone else’s work that inspired you years ago.

The New York Times won a Pulitzer for interactive journalism with “Snow Fall,” and it opened our minds about immersive storytelling on the internet—not in the context of microsites, but for core, platform-level experiences. We still reference it today, and will be launching work soon that builds on these concepts.

Someone else’s work you admired lately. 

The brand work from Landscape. Sets a bar we try to meet for visual identity.

Your main strength as a creative person.

My ability to filter or edit. I have a good feel for bullshit and try to hold myself accountable to not indulge in it.

Your biggest weakness.

My writing can be verbose. 

A mentor who helped you navigate the industry.

My first boss, Joe Andrews at Condé Nast. We still talk from time to time.

How you’re paying it forward with the next generation of creatives.

Early in my career, I reached out to the publisher of Freeskier Magazine, Chris Jerard. I was super surprised when he wrote back, and took a call with me to share some advice. I try to take as many of these kinds of calls as I can. I’m disappointed in myself when young people reach out and I lose the thread. If I ghosted you, I apologize.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in advertising / design.

The running joke in my family is that I have very confidently proclaimed that if I didn’t work in design, I’d like to write a novel. Like a great American one. I’d love an opportunity to prove the haters wrong on this one.