The Story of HandPicked is the Story of a Soul's Journey.

A girl

Once upon a time, there was a little girl with a vivid imagination and an adventurous spirit. As her family piled into the station wagon headed for vacation, six-year-old Melanie Logan claimed her own little favorite place in the way back. Nestled among the luggage, she passed the hours shaping the clouds into animals and people.

As they traveled, Melanie saw the world she knew melt away and the landscape give way to one much different from her own. The colors and flowers and trees were so different than those she had known. The people of this new land communicated in a language she did not understand. She saw beauty and poverty side by side. In front of the tiny, brightly-painted little houses they passed along the roadside, she saw beautiful bougainvilleas and poinsettias. And from the people who lived there, always a smile and a wave.

Melanie's world opened up a little more every time her family vacationed in this colorful land. As she grew, so did her connection to the land and its people. While most teenagers went to summer camp, Melanie Logan went to Mexico.

A sign

The years passed and the little girl was now a wife and mother. And Melanie Mauldin was at a cross-road in her life.

Shortly after the birth of her third child, she was walking on the beach, talking to God sorting out the direction her life would take.

Though her previous pursuits always put her in the midst of people, she felt a pull toward doing something on her own, a more one-to-one experience. She wasn't sure she had gotten the message right. So, she asked for a sign.

At that moment, about twenty yards away, Melanie saw a shape on the beach. Moving toward it, she thought, "This can't be." But it was. It was a conch shell. A whole conch shell. A big, whole conch shell. "You just don't find those," she exclaimed.

A beginning

Following a strong inner sense, Melanie and a dear friend traveled to Mexico and brought back the treasures they loved.

Three days after the two women returned to Columbia, SC in September of 1986, a great earthquake devastated Mexico City. Yet, astonishingly, every single item they ordered arrived and the ladies set up "Horizon: Christmas Shopping in Mexico" in a vacant store front.

"I never thought of it as a career," Melanie reflected, "Simply as the next step in my journey." Her friend did not want to come along, so Melanie went back to Mexico by herself.

The business was named HandPicked, as that is what Melanie literally did � hand picked beautiful things from the artisans who made them.

Beginning first with her friends and then networking through them, Melanie developed a flourishing home show business, traveling to different cities carrying her infant with her in a pouch.

"I can still feel her little head right here on my chest," Melanie recalls with a sparkle in her eye.

Gradually Melanie's network grew and she began to ship merchandise out to reps, and the home show business grew.

"We really were pioneers in the early days," Melanie reflects. "I was the only source � at least in our region � for quality sterling silver jewelry."

As the home shows spread, HandPicked developed a regional reputation, and Melanie was invited to participate in the SECCA show in Winston-Salem, NC. "That introduced me to a whole new way of doing business. From the beginning serendipity and synchronicity were all intersecting and I was being carried along by them."

A singular journey

Melanie continued to travel to Mexico by herself. She stayed with friends in Mexico City, and drove their VW Beetle from village to village, building relationships and friendships with her artisans, and filling suitcases with fabulous finds.

Though traveling alone, Melanie never feared the banditos she had been warned of. "Mexico is such a land of grace and goodness to me that I guess my karma has always felt at home there."

And alone she faced the customs agents and all the paperwork back home.

"When I'd get back to Columbia, I'd see those suitcases come around the carousel and I'd think, �what a miracle!' The things that had to line up just so to make this all happen."

Trudging home with her trove of treasures, there was no rest for the weary traveler. Melanie would often work throughout the night right after a trip, logging the inventory in a composition notebook and hand-writing jewelry prices on little white tags.

A family friend liked to describe Melanie as "a little burro with a pack constantly climbing up the mountain."

"I didn't think about how hard I was working, or how risky it was; I was just doing the work I was given to do."

Evolution of a retail store

"I never meant to have a store," admits Melanie as she recalls the next phases of growth.

But after moving out of her home, the business moved to a couple of different locations to keep up with the growth. As the jewelry became more and more well known, people began to come by the office wanting to look at it. "They wanted to buy jewelry. We wanted to sell jewelry. But it just became too hectic." HandPicked needed a retail outlet, so Melanie formed a relationship with a local clothing boutique to sell her jewelry on consignment. And the customers came.

The consignment business became overwhelming for the boutique and so Melanie moved to a retail location that would accommodate the company, now conducting about 25 Holiday Markets a year and 60-70 home shows twice a year, and be accessible to walk-in customers.

Still not committing to a full-fledged retail store, HandPicked outfitted the space with folding tables and some staff to ring up purchases. "Women would come," recalls Melanie, "and it just kind of grew." Wanting the space to look more inviting for the customers, Melanie set the jewelry up on the pedestals she used for retail shows and gradually, HandPicked became a thriving store.

About this time, Melanie's husband Tom sold his business and came into HandPicked. "He had much more of a business head than I had. I had made the decisions to this point on instinct, but it was time for more."

Over time, under Tom's direction, it became apparent that retail stores would be a more profitable direction for the company to move toward and the retail and home shows decreased until they finally ceased altogether in 2003. A website was launched to capture the growing e-commerce segment and to continue an outlet for the out-of-town customer base developed through the shows.

HandPicked now owns and operates eight stores in North and South Carolina. A Savannah, GA location is scheduled to open in Spring 2006. The corporate headquarters are located in Columbia, SC.

Full Circle

Melanie's passion for the land and people of Mexico are still at the heart and soul of HandPicked. Entrusting the business to Chris and others, Melanie now serves the business in an artistic capacity, selecting and designing jewelry to be made exclusively for HandPicked. She continues to work with the same silversmiths, and together their businesses have grown.

Melanie likens her coming full circle with HandPicked to the energy created by the process of alchemy. "The silver comes out of the ground," she says, "it is mined, extracted, cut, shaped, fired, beaten, and beaten again. The process creates a beautiful piece of wearable art."

And the circle includes giving back. "Part of the energy from what is created must always return to its source. Nothing is so powerful as a circle," says Melanie as she talks about giving back.

In addition to remaining loyal to its silversmiths in Mexico, HandPicked is helping to build art and retreat centers in several villages in Mexico, creating place for women to gather.

HandPicked also gives back in a variety of ways in the communities we serve back home. One way is by donating the proceeds of our exclusive breast cancer awareness pin to breast cancer research, either through local programs or the Susan G. Komen foundation.

"The story of HandPicked is really about discovering one's soul expression," says Melanie. "I think someone's passion is their soul's journey. Pay attention to what has meaning and value in your life."

And now our story becomes your story. Just as one woman found her own unique expression, HandPicked now gives women the opportunity to express their own story in the way that women have for many millennia � by adorning themselves with beautiful jewelry.

In our stores we have both a fun and important mission to help women more fully express who they are or who they want to be.

So, what's your story?