Mellisa Brown, the artist behind Crave Happy

I started drawing at seven in class at Gibbs Elementary School in Washington DC. I transferred to Neval Thomas Elementary School to learn better. As a teenager, I learned life drawing and developed more artwork with help from my cousin Joyce.

The Universe is where the ice cream truck started. That song getting closer, three blocks away, is the first landmark of the whole world. Joy arriving on purpose is the thing this label was built to hand back to people.

Hi, I am Mellisa T Brown. I spent four years building Crave Happy while working full time jobs, driving Uber and earning my degree. No investors, no shortcuts, no diluted vision.

Nothing here is licensed or borrowed. Every dragon, eagle and cosmic cafe scene is drawn in house, given a name and a home in the universe, then printed on heavyweight cotton in small, deliberate runs.

So the path is simple. Family Kitchen is where the art is drawn. The Universe is where the story is told. The game is where you play in it. The shop is where you wear it.

This is Year Zero, the opening chapter of the Crave Happy Universe. You are not late. You are early.