Jess Magtalas is a Naarm (Melbourne)-based multi-disciplinary creative of Filipino heritage, working across concept, production and storytelling with a considered, contemporary aesthetic. Born and raised in Australia after her family migrated from the Philippines in the late 1990s, she remains deeply connected to her family’s cultural roots.

What Jess values most about Filipino culture is the way people gather – presence without pretext and community without conditions. That sensibility informs how she creates. Recently stepping into freelancing, her work is guided by the belief that ideas should feel like home, spanning brand campaigns, narratives, documentaries and TVCs.

Jess believes Australia’s greatest strength lies in its cultural mix and the exchange that happens when stories are shared openly. She is drawn to work rooted in lived experience and emotional truth, shaped by where people come from and what they carry with them.

Part of a growing movement, Jess advocates for people of colour to take up more space in the creative industries – louder, unapologetic and on their own terms. She is invested in building new platforms, moving beyond traditional structures and contributing to work that reflects the diaspora honestly and without dilution.