I'm Emma, the owner and creator of MeliCo! it's a pleasure to have you!

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Try embroidering fifty shirts in a single summer, and you’ll learn the same lesson I did; thimbles were invented for a reason. Just out of freshman year, I had an idea to embroider a shirt. With a shoe box full of thread, I set out stitching dozens of tiny daisies and roses into the front of a t-shirt I unearthed from my closet. Even with pricked fingertips, I loved how it turned out. When I tell you I had no expectations for what came next, I had zero; I’d never even shopped on Etsy before. I simply thought “why not?”. On June 19th of 2020, Melico began.

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Within the first month, I was hooked. Those very shirts had become an Etsy Bestseller and the overwhelming support inspired me to expand into more. To answer the inevitable question – "What do you make?" – I’d say the same: "A smörgåsbord of things. Pretty much when inspiration conjures a project, and I love how it turns out, I share it and see what happens. Maybe someone else will love it too." 

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It's been just over two years since that "why not!" decision. This so-called hobby has transformed my world. My weekends are spent playing tetris, maneuvering every box to fit into my dad’s trunk. I pack orders with frigid fingers while the sun rises, then shuffle off to school thinking of the earring cards to stamp when I get home. I listen to Dear Hank and John, The Anthropocene Reviewed, reruns of Elementary and NCIS while trying out combinations of bead and wire. I mean, I pretty much get to craft for a living – how cool is that?!

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Everyday I fall more in love with this work I get to do. I adore scouring fabric stores for the perfect pattern; sanding wood in the sweltering sun; rethreading the needle for the hundredth time; digging clay out from under my nails; calibrating the laser over and over again; scrolling, paralyzed by a world of fonts. There are few better feelings than turning the figurative to literal. But most of all, I cherish the strangers I’ve gotten to meet; humans who offer their kindness. Like Mars, a college student from Massachusetts, who has placed eleven orders going back to their highschool days; Kathleen, a chemistry teacher who has two dozen of my test tube decorations hanging in her New York City classroom; and Easton’s momma, who surprised her with earrings for her very first day of middle school. 

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"Meli" comes from the word meliorism: “The belief that the world can be made better with human effort.” When I chose it, I didn't fully understand its grasp, how much it would encompass why I do this, but oh my, I do now.

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We often think, and feel, that the CEO's and politicians of the world are the only ones with the power to make things better. With certainty I tell you I feel helpless more times than I’d like to admit. And when I feel that way, I come back here. Because I remember when interactions with cashiers were lifelines, how I still hang onto a stranger’s every word. Because in that isolated time when the hunger for connection overwhelmed, it was the benevolent acts of strangers that cured the rumbling. To “Be Better” isn’t just combating global tragedy and passing legislation – it’s changing the mood of someone’s minute, one gesture at a time.

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That's my goal. I hope to make whoever is on the other side of this screen crack a smile, because you have (without a doubt) already done the same for me. A smile for a smile. I hope that you are excited to run to the mailbox, and grin when you open your package. I hope the sweetness on your tongue, stickers for the child in your soul, and your new knick-knacks radiate the very joy I felt creating them. Because if any piece makes your day even the teensiest bit more special, or maybe distracts from one of life's troubles for even a moment – that accomplishes my purpose.

 

Sooo, moral of the story:

Be kind to one another, the smallest gesture can make someone's day. Tell that someone how rockin' their outfit is, stack your dishes n' tip that overworked waiter, bring your friend a glass of water and a snack while they study hard, offer that slower driver some grace (perhaps they have a cake in the trunk). Even just please and thank you can make the biggest difference.

 

Be kind to yourself; You're a person too. Buy yourself flowers, use kind words in the mirror, take a detour down your favorite street on the way home, give yourself permission to rest. I promise, you deserve it.

 

And most of all, go out and do that thing you've been thinking about doing. Take a risk; go for that job, move across the country, tell them how you feel, say hi to that cute barista. Because it will either make a fantastic story, or it may just be the best decision of your life. :)

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Thank you to my incredible parents and loving sister for their unconditional support. The friends who have been my cheerleaders - Sofia, Bela, Alex, Kylie, and more. And most of all, to you. I get to do something I adore because of you. Every favorite, message, share, review, order - every ounce of kindness - I am eternally grateful for. Thank you from the bottom of my soul. And as always, stay safe n' smilin' out there! :D