We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melissa Thaxton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melissa below.

Melissa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Our mission is to create unique loungewear that brings you comfort, color and joy. Each piece is hand dyed with love, bringing you effortless style. We thrive when we partner with brands and businesses that share our values and desire to strengthen our communities. When I think about my brand and the values that I want it to uphold, they would be inclusion, creativity, respect, women empowerment, perseverance, resilience, confidence and community support.

My daughter, Mila, was the inspiration behind starting Mila & Me back in April of 2020. When she was 6-weeks old, she had to undergo surgery for a mass that had been growing in her abdomen since she was in-utero. She was incredibly strong and resilient. A few weeks later, I became very ill and two weeks after I recovered, I broke my foot so badly that I was unable to be weight bearing for 6 weeks, which prevented me from being able to return to my other job. A couple weeks after I had broken my foot, the pandemic happened. As a new mother, struggling with a healing newborn, the global pandemic was an instant reminder that we, individually, as a community and as a nation, would need that same determination and strength. I channeled my energy into creating custom tie dye pieces for family and friends, which turned into my creative outlet. My focus amplified when I realized it was a way for us to help bring happiness and comfort to people with my pieces.

One of my goals at the beginning of the pandemic was to find a way to contribute towards the fight against COVID-19. My dad is a doctor in Austin, and learning from his medical perspective about the virus, drove me further to find a way to contribute. During the first few months of the pandemic, we were able to donate 10% of our profits to City Meals of New York to help feed hundreds of struggling elderly people of New York City.

I’m constantly looking for ways to elevate our loungewear and brand— whether it’s new styles, new colors, new events, new collaborations, etc.

Melissa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Mila & Me is a small, Latina-owned, hand-dyed, loungewear brand with matching mommy & child options. The idea for our brand was conceived during COVID-19 to brighten your day and bring you comfort and peace.
Our mission is to create unique loungewear that brings you comfort, color and joy. Each piece is hand dyed with love, bringing you effortless style. The values that we strive to uphold are family, creativity, women empowerment, perseverance, resilience, confidence and community support.
With each collection, there is an inspiration or story behind it. We enjoy partnering with other entrepreneurs and businesses that share our values. For each collaboration, I stay true to their branding and unique aesthetic, while bringing the Mila & Me flare.
One of the collaborations I am most proud of is with Spoonie Threads. We collaborated with Spoonie Threads, a local adaptive apparel company, to create a limited-edition collection that has matching mommy and baby options. “Parents of medically complex kids appreciate the features of adaptive clothing like special openings for feeding tubes and catheters. This provides easy access to the button for caregivers and gives parents the comfort of knowing their little ones won’t pull on tubes or their g-buttons during playtime. And now, moms can wear a matching look with their baby or toddler in this collection, just in time for Mother’s Day…Our values are very aligned, the passion and the mission behind Spoonie Threads were all reasons I was attracted to working together. The ability to make children’s and mothers’ lives better or make even the smallest difference in their lives, would be such an honor.”
Mila & Me currently is sold online through our website, instagram, in retail stores in Austin, and through frequent local pop ups and markets.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Our mission behind starting Mila & Me is the best example of resilience. I was determined to make a positive and do something good, despite the negative circumstances that had been happening. I refused to allow myself to get negative because I wanted to be a strong, resilient and loving mother.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I will work any local events in order to market my brand. I often do pop-ups at bars, restaurants, family venues, trunk shows, markets, etc. Any place that will give me a new audience and expand my reach.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://milaandme.shop/
• Instagram: @shopmilaandme
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopmilaandme

Image Credits
@sabrinagebhardtphotography @divinastennfeldphoto @mobydieck