Mikel Akilah is a young Black Muslim entrepreneur and founder of Melfhas by Meem. Melfhas by Meem is a distributor of the traditional ‘melfha’, ethically sourced and handmade in Mauritania. Prior to establishing Melfhas by Meem, Mikel spent a significant amount of time amongst the women of her local Senegalese community, in which a lot of the women wore melfhas regularly. Feeling deep love and appreciation for how feminine, graceful, and comfortable melfhas made het feel, she gradually began to build a collection over the years and would distribute the melfhas to friends and family as more and more people expressed an interest in them. As demand slowly grew, Melfhas by Meem was born, birthed out of a desire to pay homage to the women who wore them and passed on that rite to her.