Notes On Starting Quietly

No grand origin story here. Mindello didn’t start with a pitch deck or an overseas internship. It began somewhere less glamorous — somewhere between procrastinating homework and refreshing a Canva tab for the third time.

There was no lightning-bolt moment or inspirational Pinterest quote. Just a vague idea that jewellery could be done differently — subtler, less trend-chasing, more intentional. Something that didn’t try to be the main event, but still pulled its weight.

At 18, most people are either sprinting towards a career or pretending not to panic. I was more the latter. I was just trying to make something small that didn’t feel chaotic. Something that looked like it had been thought through — because it had. I wasn’t interested in building a "girlboss" empire or living out a dream lifestyle. I just wanted to do something with a clear purpose.

The name came before everything else: Mindello. Not a real place technically, but it sounded like one. (It’s inspired by Mindelo, a city in Cape Verde — a name I first heard in an old sailing video I’d half-forgotten watching.) Sleek, syllabic, smooth — it had the quiet confidence of a forgotten novel or an old perfume bottle. That was enough.

I didn’t start with a business plan or a five-year vision board. Just a sense that jewellery made more sense than everything else — more tactile, more lasting, less overpromised. It wasn’t a grand decision, just a quiet shift. And once I landed on it, things started to feel clearer.

This wasn’t a launch. It was more of a drift. Into something that now feels oddly solid — even though it’s built on quiet beginnings.

It’s still the beginning. But it’s not nothing.
~ M.