ABOUT

Meet Melissa

I grew up in Miami as the daughter of Cuban immigrants, in a small casita filled with heart, resourcefulness, and creativity. Home was where we gathered for Noche Buenas, where birthdays spilled into the backyard, where our family shaped meaning out of the simplest things. Those early years taught me that home is more than walls. It is where identity forms, where values take root, and where love becomes a lived experience.

That understanding stayed with me. It shaped the way I saw the world and ultimately led me into design. I spent more than a decade working in residential and private commercial renovations, collaborating closely with contractors, trades, and architects. Along the way, I came to understand why people seek design support. Styles varied, but the desire was universal: people wanted spaces that felt honest, nurturing, and reflective of who they were becoming. Most weren’t looking for dramatic reinvention. They were looking for clarity, for guidance, and for a sense of direction anchored in meaning.

Design, for me, has always been about more than aesthetics. It is about creating environments that align with how people live and how they want to feel. Homes have the power to support us, reveal us, and inspire us. They can ground us during change, hold our memories, and help us understand our own story.

My own story changed on September 5, 2022, when our daughter, Lucy, was tragically killed in a preventable boating accident. In an instant, the world I knew dissolved. Loss reordered everything—my priorities, my sense of purpose, the way I moved through the world. In the quiet months that followed, I found myself rebuilding not just my home but my understanding of it. Every corner carried her memory. Every design decision became a way to honor her spirit. Through this, I learned that home can also be a place of profound healing.

That journey led our family to create the Lucy Fernandez Foundation in her honor, a mission rooted in education, safety, and empowerment. While my work today is devoted to the Foundation, design remains a part of who I am. It is still an expression of how I see the world: through beauty, intention, clarity, and love. I continue to take on select personal projects because the creative process gives me joy, and because creating spaces that hold meaning continues to feel essential.

This chapter of my life holds all of it—my roots, my grief, my creative drive, and my desire to make things better than how I found them. My work, whether in design or advocacy, is guided by the same values: beauty, truth, generosity, and love.

Lucy’s presence continues to illuminate every path I walk. Through the spaces I create and the purpose I pursue, her light remains the constant—reminding me that home is not just a place. It is the journey back to ourselves.

Contact

hello@hiveandpattern.com

melissa@lucyfernandezfoundation.org

305-992-6359