SPOKANE’S MELINDA MARIA SPIGEL

Celebrity Jewelry Designer Extraordinaire

elinda Maria Spigel is considered the jewelry designer for Hollywood’s brightest stars. Her Melinda Maria line of necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings has adorned celebrities including Julia Roberts, Michelle Obama, Chrissy Teigen, Rihanna, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, Emma Stone, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Reese Witherspoon, Amal Clooney, Millie Bobby Brown--the list goes on and on.

Discerning women from every walk of life love Spigel’s well-made, affordable jewelry. But before she attained success, she was a little girl growing up on the South Hill.

Born at Sacred Heart Medical Center in the mid-1970s, by the time she was 10, Spigel was saving her allowance and babysitting money to buy jewelry making supplies at Rings and Things on 2nd Avenue.

“My first jewelry pieces were wire wrapping pendants and teardrop earrings with gemstones,” Spigel remembered. She eventually paired her creations with clothing she bought at Value Village and made her own with scissors and thread.

The creative flare was key to success within most aspects of Spigel’s life, including classes at Ferris High School. When her Spanish teacher, Senora Hough hit the perfect balance, “She made learning so fun and creative. That was the way my brain worked, so I was speaking Spanish pretty fluently by the time I graduated in 1993.”

When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer landed in Spokane to film “Benny and Joon,” also in 1993, Spigel wrangled her way onto the set. “I made friends with the guys on the crew,” she said, “they let me hang out. I met Aiden Quinn and Johnny Depp.”

That brush with Hollywood gave Spigel wanderlust. So at 18, she headed to New York City.

A teenage Spokanite alone in the Big Apple could have been a recipe for disaster. But Spigel had keen instincts and determination. She landed a job with Woody Allen’s sister as a nanny. Making less than $200 a week plus room and board, Spigel soon tired of the job and headed home to regroup.

“Being in the city made me feel alive, so many cultures, art, fashion, theater, Wall Street. There was a pulse to the city that I loved, but New York was too cold—even for my Washington blood. I needed someplace warm and sunny, with excitement.”

Once she’d saved $2500, Spigel headed for Los Angeles. It was not an easy transition. The cost of living in L.A. was unyielding, and jobs were hard to come by. As she watched her bank account shrink, she called a friend she’d met in Spokane—a Californian with a generous mother. That mom welcomed Spigel to live at her Palos Verdes home, rent free in exchange for helping out with errands. Jewelry was still Spigel’s passion, so she would settle in at California Starbucks locations, buy a coffee and create. “Other customers would stop and watch,” she said. “’What’s that? How much does it cost?’ they’d say. I became the jewelry girl at Starbucks, but it didn’t quite pay the bills.”

That’s when inspiration hit. As Spigel watched an episode of the game show Jeopardy—as she saw strangers winning stacks of cash for answering questions-she had a thought. Jeopardy might be tough to master, but the game show Hollywood Squares, a flashy version of Tic-Tac-Toe, was another story.

“I went through the whole auditioning process,” she said. “I took the written test, I played a mock game, I did it all.” Two weeks later, Hollywood Squares casting called Spigel to be a contestant. She walked away with $65 grand in cash and prizes—seed money for her jewelry company. And her father got a new bar-bque for Father’s Day, courtesy of The Price Is Right.

Casting directors saw something in Spigel—beauty, yes, but intelligence, athleticism and a friendly disposition kept them calling her for work in the entertainment industry. When she auditioned for “Extreme Dodgeball,” a reality show, sports competition hybrid on the Game Show Network, she was named an alternate. But in the end, she was the big

What Every Women Needs:

According to Melinda Spigel, every woman should invest in these five key pieces of jewelry to prep for life’s unfolding adventures—all available at MelindaMaria.com.

1. A great pair of hoop earrings

2. An ear cuff

3. A coin or medallion pendant

4. A tennis necklace

5. A sentimental piece - something engraved with your kids’ names, for example