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1. Usher – Yeah (2004)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: Music video director, Director X discovered her while she was working as a bartender at a Toronto.

2. R. Kelly – Happy People (2004)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She was the highest paid video model but says the industry has changed. “When I was coming up, the budgets were inflated and you’re not going be seeing that anymore.”

3. Alicia Keys – You Don’t Know My Name (2003)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: Ford’s father is Afro-Barbadian and her mother is Russian and Norwegian.

4. Jadakiss- “Knock Yourself Out” (2001)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She also goes by the name Jessica Rabbit.

5. Ghostface Killah – Cherchez LaGhost ft. U-God (2000)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She has a problem with popular video vixen Karrine Steffans, who she says gave video models a bad name. According to an interview Ford did on Power 105.1, Karrine was the “queen of no” on a video set.

6. Sisqo- Thong Song (Remix) (2000)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She dated rapper Flo Rida

7. Mystikal- “Shake It Fast” (2000)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She hates being called a “video hoe.”

8. Big Pimpin’ ft. UGK – “Big Pimpin” (2000)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She was the victim of social media identity theft: “It was someone who created a Facebook page, speaking to people under the premise that I was her, having phone sex under my identity. It got so bad that the secret service was involved,” she said in an interview with The Grio.

9. 112 feat. Lil’ Zane – Anywhere (1999)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She agrees that music videos are “demeaning to women.”

10. Choclair – “Lets Ride” (1999)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She has 40K followers on Instagram @themelyssaford

11. Rascalz – Northern Touch (1998)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She attended York University and studied in the field of forensic psychology.

12. Glenn Lewis – The Thing To Do (1997)

Random Melyssa Ford Fact: She is trying her hand at selling Real Estate on Bravo’s “Blood, Sweat & Heels” show. Catch her on “Blood, Sweat & Heels” every Sunday night on Bravo at 9/8c!

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.