The world is quick to tell us to take up space (but to do it quietly.) To lead with authority (but to stay in our lane.) To earn more money (but not too much.) I’m here to remind you that we no longer have to filter ourselves or our success to make others feel comfortable.

Mel, the Founder of the Numbersmiths sitting on a chair with her laptop

Meet the Founder

Hey, I’m Mel.

Founder. Mentor. Creative. Mother. CFO

From a young age, money was more than currency to me — it was a paradox of freedom and constraint. What was it about money that could bring pleasure and freedom yet also pain and isolation? 

I talk openly about money and financial liberation now because my life began without much of it. I believe we need to make space for honest conversations that remind us life is ours to shape and that what we choose to work on, works on us.

My youth was coloured by constant financial uncertainty. We scraped by on a  week-to-week paycheque, under a system that felt unseeing and unforgiving. 

Years later, I thought I’d ‘made it’. I had the husband, the kids, and the house. But it came at a cost: my desires, pleasure and ambition dissolved into laundry, lunch boxes and keeping the family unit strong.

Mel, the Founder of the Numbersmiths standing in the sun with her shirt lifted up over her head

Over time, I began to question it all. Was sacrificing my purpose and passion for the white picket fence a fair trade? On my quest for stability and security, whose version of success had I subscribed to? 

Then came the moment that shifted everything: I remembered that I had agency, that I got to make decisions by choice. I remembered that freedom and financial independence are not just my rights but the rights of all women. 

Fuelled by this intuition, I leapt without a plan.

I left my broken marriage, catapulted my business from a hobby into full-time, and painstakingly learnt to let go and share the primary care role of my children.

Mel, the Founder of the Numbersmiths standing in front of a dark wall with a pillow resting behind her head

While The Numbersmiths started as a bookkeeping house, expansion and evolution have followed us ever since. Today, we’ve helped hundreds of business owners transform their money mindset, grow their wealth and strategically evolve their business. 

Mel x