meet mimba chic
fabulous, fashionable, and pregnant
Founded in 2022, Mimba Chic was birthed from an idea to combine a deep love for fashion + style and working with pregnant women to create a chic maternity fashion platform for all mamas-to-be.
Mimba (pronounced meem-bah) means pregnancy in Swahili, which is the mother language of our Owner & Founder, Melissa Mulengwa. Melissa is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and she was deeply inspired by her Congolese roots to create a maternity fashion platform that encompasses her culture, her passion for fashion + style, and her love for working with pregnant women. She discovered her passion for working with pregnant women while working at a women’s health center in San Francisco, which was centered on providing integrative and holistic health services to women and couples who were trying to conceive, pregnant women, and women who were postpartum. Mimba Chic gracefully brings together Melissa’s biggest passions to create a unique maternity fashion platform that strives to inspire all women to feel beautiful and powerful during the most transformative stage of their lives.
Our mission at Mimba Chic is to help mamas-to-be bring out their beautiful, natural glow with stylish & functional maternity fashion. We hope to inspire all women to embrace + celebrate their new bodies (and their adorable baby bumps) with a bold fashion statement!
get to know melissa
fashionista & entrepreneur
- Melissa has a B.A. in Public Health Policy (and a minor in Medical Anthropology) from the University of California, Irvine. She also has an MBA from San Francisco State University. (Yesss, queen!)
- As a forever fashionista, Melissa loves all things fashion + style and expressing herself visually through clothing. She also enjoys watching runway shows and fashion competition shows that feature talented designers!
- In 2020, Melissa started our former beloved sister brand, Mama + Mimba Maternity, to uplift & empower mamas-to-be with beautiful, elegant, and chic clothing.
- Through both Mimba Chic and Mama + Mimba, Melissa hopes to bring more representation of Black women and women of color in motherhood & maternity wear spaces. (Say YES to glowin’ mamas!)