Today we’d like to introduce you to Jewel Hylton.
Hi Jewel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
A little background: I’m a young entrepreneur and Caribbean (Jamaican) immigrant who founded my company in October 2024 following a car accident that fractured my sternum. I was only three days into my first corporate job at a marketing agency when it happened. That experience shifted everything for me, and in the most unexpected ways.
At the agency, the campaign that had captured my full attention was one for the National Park Foundation, a million-dollar initiative spreading awareness and fundraising for parks across America. The National Parks weren’t new to me. Months after completing my GED, I found myself homeless, and it was in a National Park that I found refuge, camping out of a van gifted to me by a generous Mormon family in Nevada, sustained by the kindness of strangers I met along the road. So this campaign hit close to home in a way I couldn’t quite explain.
It was the largest campaign I’d ever worked on. My team and I were driving all over New Jersey, meeting people, making real connections, sometimes for two minutes, sometimes for thirty, depending on who we’d encounter. Then came the accident. Minutes before impact, a billboard had caught my eye, one I’d even photographed, that read: “Wellness, community, and spirit” for a local meditation center. On the ride home, my Uber driver happened to be playing “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley, and in that moment, despite everything, I just knew it was going to be okay.
And it was. Once my first paycheck came in and I faced the reality that I couldn’t work the way I used to, I did what I’ve always done and returned to my creative roots. I’ve been freelancing since I was 16, and I’ve also navigated PMDD throughout my life, which meant there were times I had to leave traditional 9-to-5 jobs because of my condition. That started in high school and has shaped so much of how I think about work and flexibility.
I began with graphic design, then grew into photography through mentorship. Drawing on my real-world experience, what I’d absorbed from years online, and my brief but formative time at that agency, I founded Kindah Studios, a full-service creative agency built not only to give me the flexibility I needed, but to create genuine opportunity for other skilled creatives. I wanted to build a space where talented people don’t have to start from zero, where the behind-the-scenes knowledge of sustainable independent contracting is shared openly, and where no one has to do it alone.
With my background and the industries I naturally gravitated toward, Kindah Studios focuses on wellness, nonprofits, conservation, and holistic e-commerce brands, though we’ve also served clients in real estate, cannabis, and local business development across branding, content, social media, and web. What I love most about what I’ve built is that the risk I took for my own survival became something that actively supports businesses and causes I genuinely care about, while providing my team with a flexible, creatively fulfilling environment.
Our team is currently based across the US, Jamaica, and Africa, which allows us to deliver high-quality work at rates that are accessible for new and small businesses. I’m not originally from Baltimore, but I’m making it my home base and I’m genuinely excited to get more involved in the local community. We’re actively looking for partnerships and connections that align with our values, and we have an upcoming initiative launching soon: a bi-monthly program where we’ll provide one business with a complimentary service to meaningfully strengthen their presence.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Homelessness, moving, losing employment due to car accident, challenges of boot strapping and feast and famine cycles.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
About Kindah Studios
Kindah Studios is a remote full-service creative agency rooted in purpose, culture, and intentional design. Founded by Jewel, a creative entrepreneur with Jamaican roots and a deep connection to Maroon history and Caribbean heritage the agency exists at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, and social impact.
The name itself says everything. Kindah is drawn from the Kindah tree of Accompong, Jamaica; a sacred symbol of community, ancestral unity, and collective strength among the Maroon people.
What We Do
Kindah Studios serves several industries such as wellness brands, nonprofit organizations, conservation initiatives, and holistic e-commerce businesses with a distributed team spanning the United States, Jamaica, and Africa. Our services include brand identity and strategy, website design and development, content creation, social media management, copywriting, digital marketing, and business services.
We don’t just build brands, we build brands that mean something.
What Sets Us Apart
In an industry saturated with templated thinking, Kindah Studios leads with cultural fluency, narrative depth, and genuine investment in each client’s mission. Our clients aren’t just businesses; they’re movements, communities, and causes. We understand that creative work in the wellness and nonprofit space requires both aesthetic excellence and authentic voice, and we deliver both.
Our global team brings diverse lived experiences to every project, allowing us to produce work that resonates across communities and borders.
What We’re Most Proud Of
Kindah Studios is proud to have built a thriving remote creative agency from the ground up that centers identity, purpose, and impact without sacrificing professional excellence. From producing record-breaking digital campaigns for conservation nonprofits to developing full brand ecosystems for wellness entrepreneurs, our portfolio reflects work we believe in.
We are equally proud of how we work: collaboratively, ethically, and with deep respect for the stories our clients trust us to tell.
What We Want You to Know
Kindah Studios is more than an agency, it’s a creative home for brands that are building something bigger than themselves. If your mission is rooted in community, healing, conservation, or culture, we were built for this work.
We are Kindah. We grow together.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I’m actively seeking a mentor myself. Building an agency rooted in purpose is deeply rewarding, but having the right guide in your corner makes an enormous difference. So if anything, I’m proof that the search for mentorship never stops being relevant.
For founders and creatives, I’d point anyone toward SCORE (score.org) a free resource that connects entrepreneurs with experienced volunteer mentors. It’s one of the most accessible and underutilized tools out there.
Beyond that, what has worked is showing up consistently, letting the quality of your work speak before you do, and being genuinely curious about other people’s journeys. Networking doesn’t always look like a conference or a LinkedIn request… sometimes it’s a comment that turns into a conversation, or a collaboration that turns into a lasting relationship.
The community you build is the foundation your business stands on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kindahstudios.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kindahstudios/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kindahstudios/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jewel-hylton-168445391
