Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Mildort.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
It began in 2020, when I was living in Spain. I used to go to these street markets called El Rastro. I found myself collecting pieces, small things at first, that would later remind me of Madrid, its people, its livelihood.
When I moved back to Florida, putting on jewelry became a ritual. Every ring, every bracelet was carefully selected based on what I felt and missed the most. It was less about accessorizing, and more about holding on.
There was a quiet realization that so much of what we wear is disconnected from who we are. Jewelry, at its core, is what we take from the earth, shape it, and wear on our bodies. It already carries meaning, even before we assign it any. But I kept returning to a question: what would happen if we let conversations shape what we wear? What if our diasporic experiences influenced the forms and patterns on our jewelry?
That’s how NOUKA started.
It took a year of trial and error, a two-month trip to Haiti, and the unweaving support of my partner to make reality feel closer to that dream.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
But it has not been a smooth road.
I often found myself compromising vision for affordability. And although, to an extent, scaling back is necessary to ensure sustainability, I struggled to represent the brand faithfully. I knew I could not afford formal gemological training, and I knew I could not compete with larger brands in the traditional sense. So I made a different commitment. I chose to keep the essence intact by keeping conversations at the core.
In Jacmel, I interviewed artists, writers, and street vendors. I asked simple questions. What is a symbol that represents the land of Haiti. And I listened.
Those answers were not always direct, but they were honest. They carried memory, pride, resistance, softness.
Together, those conversations shaped our latest collection, Ayiti Sou Kè’m, my proudest achievement so far.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
NOUKA is a jewelry and experiential brand built around memory, conversation, and cultural connection. At its core, the work starts with listening. Instead of beginning with materials or trends, I begin with people. Conversations with mothers and daughters, with artists, with strangers in different places, and with members of the diaspora. Those conversations become the foundation for what we design. The jewelry itself is rooted in that process. Each piece is meant to feel like a fragment of something larger, a reflection of identity, emotion, and belonging. I am especially interested in how diasporic experiences shape what we find meaningful, and how those meanings can live in form, texture, and symbolism. Alongside jewelry, we also create intimate gatherings like LAKAY NOUKA: the Motherline Table, where people can slow down, create, and reconnect with each other in a more grounded way.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
People can work with me in a few different ways, but it always starts the same way, with conversation.
If you are an artist, writer, musician, or someone whose work is rooted in culture and storytelling, I am always open to collaborating. Sometimes that looks like co creating a piece. Sometimes it is building something around an idea or a story. Sometimes it is just sitting with a concept long enough for it to turn into something real.
I also work with spaces and brands that care about intention. Places that want to host something more thoughtful. Pop ups, small gatherings, or experiences where the focus is not just selling jewelry but creating a moment around it.
People can also support by simply being part of it. Wearing the pieces in their own way. Sharing the work. Coming to events. Talking about it. It all matters more than it might seem.
And if someone wants to reach out directly, they can email melissa@noukajewelry.com. I try to stay close to the messages, the conversations, the people who find their way to NOUKA. That is still where most of the direction comes from.
At the end of the day, working with NOUKA is about adding your voice to something that is still being shaped.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.noukajewelry.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noukajewelry/
Image Credits
Wilvrantz Valcin
