Melissa Akkaway

Hi, I'm Melissa. Founder of The Particulars and The NICE Pack. I am pretty particular about all things! I founded The Particulars.com in 2017 and I interview other particular people, like myself, to bring you the most particularly interesting, necessary, and worthwhile guides on fashion, travel, beauty, entrepreneurship, and more. In October 2021, The Particulars launched it’s first D2C product: The N.I.C.E. PACK — a chic, affordable, modern-day fannypack for all of your in-case-of-emergency items. After interviewing over 150+ pretty particular people for The-Particulars.com, we have a learned a thing or two about what they are looking for when it comes to accessories.

With their help, we’ve created a new kind of carryall that puts fannypacks of the past to shame. Imagine room for all your need-cessary essentials… and then some. We’ve created a one-of-a-kind waistbag that sits perfectly across your body or around your waist. We’ve considered the sizing of every possibly object floating around one’s bag from tampons and tissues to bandaids and bronzers.

I am also an entrepreneur, strategic investor, and retail expert who has deep roots in the hospitality, restaurant, and fashion industries. I began my career working alongside famed restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow, has since utilized my business savvy and innate creativity to develop, co-own, and operate restaurants in Los Angeles, Miami, Dubai and New York.

I also founded and operated Beckley, a luxury retail brand with brick and mortar boutiques in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as well as its adjacent apparel line. The eponymous clothing range was sold at large scale omnichannel retailers like Neiman Marcus and Shopbop (Amazon).