About Us

Minka is a Polish name meaning determined little warrior.

Minka began life as a street cat.  Part-way through one of Melbourne’s covid lockdowns, I answered a Facebook post asking for an urgent foster carer for a little cat called Pepper.  Pepper spent the first few months in under the couch.  As she gradually became more trusting, I saw her determination to find joy in her life.  She began to ask for pats.  She purred.  She chased ping pong balls across the wooden floor.

She reminded me, of me.  I too have experienced trauma. While that helped me understand her reactions better, her eternal hypervigilance, the look of longing to connect and being too afraid to do so, it didn’t change my ego responses.  How could she not relax now she was safe?  Why didn’t she want to snuggle with me? 

I learnt so much about myself and how my expectations of Minka were driven by the needs of my ego.  I founded Minka Ink to publish books and create messages on clothing that poke our sleeping selves awake to the ways in which we act to make the world better – or worse.

Each product bears a piece of our joint history and present and is offered with heartfelt thanks for supporting our mission to humanise the world, one tiny act at a time.