Hey Hey! I’m Cherontae Vasquez, founder of Melacelium.

Melacelium began as a quiet question: what if our businesses could be less like islands and more like the mycelium beneath a forest — an invisible, thriving network that shares resources, wisdom, and strength? From that question grew a community: a living ecosystem designed to connect melanated and minority-owned businesses with the customers and collaborators who will help them flourish.

We believe in business as relationship — not competition. Melacelium nurtures those relationships through thoughtfully designed courses, community events, vendor directory, and a line of natural, organic self-care products that honor both maker and earth. As we grow, our roots deepen: uplifting Black-owned businesses was our seed, and we now welcome all minoritized entrepreneurs who center sustainability, care, and craft.

Our promise is simple and sacred: to cultivate spaces where creativity, commerce, and care meet. We’re here to teach, to trade stories, to host, and to heal so that success looks abundant, mutual, and regenerative.

About the Fists in Our Visual Language

You might notice fists in our imagery. Those fists are not about aggression — they’re an emblem of strength, resistance, and collective protection. They are a quiet, ancestral language: the raised fist has long signaled refusal to be erased and a promise to keep one another safe. For us, it’s less a shout and more a steady heartbeat — a reminder that communities hold power when they stand together, when they defend dignity, when they insist on equitable opportunity.

Why the fist matters here:

• Strength, not violence: it signals resilience, the ability to recover, rebuild, and grow after hardship.
• Resistance as care: resisting systems that marginalize is an act of love toward future generations.
• Rooted in history, reaching toward the future: it honors ancestors while channeling their courage into modern creative enterprise.
  

When you see that symbol in Melacelium, know it’s an invitation: to stand, to support, and to build with intention.

How to Plug In

Join us by sharing your business, taking a course, joining an event, or choosing products that nurture both body and planet. Melacelium is a place to be seen, to learn, and to grow — together.