Mel Campbell has a degree in creative advertising and is currently supposed to be a practising copywriter. To her parents' dismay, she went on to complete a master's degree in cultural studies at the University of Melbourne. Her thesis was about the Australian cultural phenomenon known as bogans, bevans or westies.

She is now a cultural critic and journalist who specialises in fashion, popular music, branding and celebrity. She writes for the weekly current affairs magazine The Reader, and contributes freelance articles to The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on subjects as diverse as 'anti-Britney' pop singers and lingerie's role in Australian national identity. Her SMH feature on homosexuality and male bonding in football was anthologised in The Best Australian Sports Writing 2004, published by Black Inc. Meanwhile, she is undertaking an academic research project on mainstream hip-hop and R&B culture in Australia. She runs a research weblog called Footpath Zeitgeist [http://footpathzeitgeist.blogspot.com].

Mel is also a seasoned media commentator on popular cultural phenomena. She has spoken at public forums at the Ian Potter gallery, RMIT and the Melbourne International Fashion Festival, been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations across Australia, and memorably, appeared on the Nine Network's Today Show with Steve Irwin as he slapped his own buttocks for the camera.