This month marks a milestone for jewelry brand Melinda Maria, worn by the likes of Taylor Swift, Michelle Obama and Julia Roberts: 20 years of business.
Founder Melinda Maria Spigel has taken her passion from childhood beadwork in Spokane, Wash. to a company that’s been growing steadily — hitting $30 million in sales in 2024 and projected to do more than $40 million this year and $55 million in 2026.
“Because we didn’t take institutional funding, we scaled very slowly, but we retain 100 percent ownership of the company and still have that today,” said Spigel, who coleads the business with her husband, Art Spigel. “So, we scaled really slowly, and we really just kept putting money back into the company.”
Funding came an unconventional way: “I went on a bunch of game shows, ‘Hollywood Squares,’ ‘The Price Is Right’…I won probably almost $100,000 between all of them.”
Her philosophy has been “to grow with healthy profit margins,” she continued. “Our brand has never taken on any debt.”
Spigel attributes much of her brand’s growth to prioritizing her customers — through easy returns, lifetime guarantee and an “every customer is a VIP” approach — while making her pieces accessible to all.
Bestsellers span from the $52 Baby Heiress ring, made of 18-karat gold-plated over brass with simulated diamonds, to the $235 tennis necklace, available in multiple colorways and crafted in 18k gold-plated brass with simulated stones. Necklaces account for 60 percent of the business, earrings 25 percent, and other categories making up the rest.
“Things are made in all different places,” she said of manufacturing. “We’re in China. We’re in Vietnam. We’re looking at Thailand. You know, China has such a bad rap, but they are such incredible craftsmen there.”
Every piece is handmade, with stones individually set, she said, “We’re dedicated to quality.” According to the company, their customer return rate is around 60 percent.
Managing global production also means bracing for unexpected changes, including tariffs. But with Spigel working closely with her team of 35, involved in every element of the business, they are nimble and able to act quickly, she said: “We anticipated the tariffs long before they were implemented, so we planned ahead and adjusted our operations. They impacted us, but we adapted and figured it out.”
Melinda Maria’s Los Angeles flagship.
Spigel’s momentous year is also marked by the opening of the brand’s first flagship in February, a 2,500-square-foot space that combines a storefront, studio, offices and a social hub for customers and events, offering styling appointments and piercings. It’s impossible to miss with its lavender hue, at 740 North La Brea Avenue.
“Lavender has been my signature color,” she smiled. “People come in and they get to experience our whole world.”
Spigel’s journey in jewelry started early. “I was 8 or 9,” she said. “I feel so lucky that I knew what I was obsessed with at a really young age.…I would go to Goodwill and buy junk jewelry, take it apart, wire wrap it, put a bead in it, repurpose it.”
Coming from humble beginnings, Spigel said, she held multiple jobs. After high school, she moved to New York, where she worked as a nanny — while continuing to make jewelry — before moving to Los Angeles in 1996 with $3,000 to her name.
“I did a bunch of odd jobs,” she said. “I did makeup, and I worked at restaurants, and I was just a hodgepodge of a million different things, and I did that for quite a few years.”
Melinda Maria jewelry.
It was at the age of 29 that she decided to pursue jewelry full-time. She began selling her designs out of Starbucks, becoming known as “the jewelry girl at Starbucks,” she laughed, before landing in high-profile boutiques like Fred Segal and Lisa Kline.
Celebrity moments followed: Kristen Stewart wearing her designs during “Twilight,” Roberts wearing her jewelry on an entire press tour, and landing on Oprah’s “Favorite Things” episode where Roberts gave away thousands of Melinda Maria bangles. “It was such a surreal moment.”
But then came the Taylor Swift effect.
At the height of Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” Spigel got a call from her publicist requesting pieces from the website. “She was like, ‘Taylor’s on your website, and some things are sold out, and she wants some pieces. Can you overnight it?’”
Swift would end up getting photographed at a Kansas City Chiefs game supporting boyfriend Travis Kelce wearing Melinda Maria’s “Julian Loves Diamonds Necklace,” a $128 gold piece showcasing simulated diamonds and a padlock clasp, paired with an oversized jersey and thigh-high boots.
“It was just madness,” Spigel recalled. “I’d never seen anything like it.”
Today the business is expanding “across revenue, brand equity, technology and customer experience,” she went on. Initiatives include expanding product categories, opening Melinda Maria stores, creating original content with an upcoming podcast, and launching a new charitable program to help empower women. “We’re leveraging best-in-class platforms and tools to optimize every part of the business, from backend operations to front-end personalization, so our customers feel the benefits at every touchpoint.”
The customer experience remains at the forefront: “We’re constantly exploring innovative ways to surprise and delight.”
Inside the Melinda Maria flagship in Los Angeles.