The Birth of “Mele’s Roots”
By the following week, I wasn’t just baking—I was launching a small, homegrown business: Mele’s Roots. Orders started rolling in from teachers, classmates, even those who had once mocked me. My parents had taught me to bake by instinct and heart, and now those lessons were reaching people in ways I’d never imagined. I started writing about our farm in school essays and projects, finding new pride in my story.
In my final year, I created a short documentary about our farm as part of a school identity project. When it premiered, the reaction took my breath away. A slow clap turned into a standing ovation. Izan came up afterward and simply said, “Told you your story mattered.”
