Elisa Summiel, owner and illustrator behind the brand Illustrated Melanin, is a San Diego-based visual artist with a background in graphic design. Her illustrations portray soft, earthy tones to represent all shades of melanin. Her stationery products are filled with powerful messages of self-love and acceptance for Black and Brown women. The Illustrated Melanin product line includes greeting cards, wellness journals, coloring books, and more. This curated collection of work was created to spread joy and encourage wellness in every form.
I started this brand for a few reasons: Lack of representation within the stationery industry for Black and Brown women, to highlight our natural hair, skin tones, body types & features, and to ensure we had an outlet for our mental health.
When she's not designing, she's openly speaking about her struggle with Endometriosis and helping others with uteruses find their community to break the cycle on not speaking up about our periods. Find out more by following Dear Aunt Flo on Apple or Spotify Podcasts!