Photographs by Christopher Churchill Three years ago, Melanie Casey finally gave up her Etsy shop. It was 2017, and with four employees and $1.6 million in revenue, Casey felt her Andover, Massachusetts-based company's continued presence on the indie marketplace was a tad unseemly. That was a good move. Today Melanie Casey Corp.--No. 642 on the Inc. 5000, with three-year revenue growth of 731 percent and $5.6 million in 2019 revenue--is a pure e-commerce company whose engagement rings sell for as much as $50,000. But Casey built it the old-fashioned way: one hand-made piece at a time. --As told to Leigh Buchanan When the 2008 financial crisis erupted, I was working for an investment firm in Boston trading subprime mortgages. I wanted out of that industry, so on evenings and weekends I took every jewelry making and computer-design class I could find. Even though I'd never sold any art--or even been considered especially good at it--I was creative and believed I could make a living as an independent artist. One day at lunch, I brought a baggie full of beaded rings and necklaces to a tiny store in Faneuil Hall. I had priced them practically at cost. For the owner it was the deal of the century. She placed the first of two orders for around $3,000 each. Between that and Etsy, I sold $10,000 of jewelry that first year.