About Understory

A management system, an analysis report, an event plan, a publication or a handbook — what are you missing? Let's make it together!

I'm Meng Ya, a freelancer for the past five years. My core skills are breaking problems down, doing the research, and thinking things through. I mix knowledge from different fields to offer services that hang together, from start to finish.

Skills

What I can actually do

One person, from research and planning to making. I can manage, I can plan, and I can get my hands dirty.

Research

Fieldwork, literature review, analysis

Planning & management

Planning, project management, running events

Formerly a project manager (PM) on government policy and knowledge-outreach projects

Making

Writing
copywriting and editing
Visual
graphic design and layout, photography
Video
motion graphics, video editing
Digital
building systems and websites, API integrations, LINE bots, AI training

The organisations and projects I work with are mostly about humanities, ecology, policy and non-profits.

Tools I use

Design & layout
IllustratorPhotoshopInDesign
Video
PremiereAfter Effects
Websites
WixGoogle SitesGitHubdomain and DNS setup
Systems & integration
AppSheetGoogle Apps ScriptAPI integrations
AI
ClaudeNotebookLM

Projects

What kind of projects I've done

Each project involves more than one kind of work.

Not sure what you want yet? That's fine — let's just talk. Often it's only after chatting that you find that what you really need isn't what you first thought.

How we work

How we do it together

Understand first, then get to work.

  1. Let's talk

    A free 30-minute chat. Tell me what you're running into.

  2. Get on site

    I watch how things are actually done, look at the data you already have, and talk to the people involved.

  3. Find the shape of it

    We sort the problems by priority and decide together what to do and how far to go.

  4. Build it together

    I take responsibility for the work, but you can't just hand everything over and walk away. I need your help and ideas too — after all, you know your own situation better than I do.

  5. Hand it over

    I hate waste, and I hate the idea of taking your money and making something you can't use. I'll walk you through it and hand it over properly.

Just want to get the problem straight? That's fine too!
You can hire me for steps 2 and 3 only, the assessment and planning. Sometimes it turns out the plan isn't workable and the goal needs adjusting, and sometimes it turns out it's something I can't do. That's okay — hand it to someone more suitable.

Why me

Working with one person, start to finish

Understory

Down here, shrubs, ferns and seedlings grow tangled together — messy, and full of life.
Here, I hope to show you the stories you can't see from the surface. Or, simply tell them to you.

Let's talk

Tell me what you're dealing with, and we'll decide together what to do.

mengyahh@gmail.com