Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Allison Merriman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Allison, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

I learned how to play mahjong several years ago from my mother. A few years later, some friends told me they were interested in learning how to play mahjong. They had taken a couple lessons but still didn’t really understand how to play the game. One friend told me it felt like, “work” and that she wasn’t having much fun. I knew that I could apply my experience as an elementary school teacher and teach adults how to play mahjong in a way that was engaging, instructive, and also enjoyable.

When I taught first graders, I quickly learned the importance of making a lesson hands-on. Children, and adults, will become disengaged quickly when they are simply talked at for a long period of time. Learning involves doing! Before a child learns how to read, she must learn the letters in the alphabet. She will draw letters in sand, sing songs about their sounds and build them with shapes. Finally, she may be ready to start stringing letters together into more complex sounds, reading short words. All of these little lessons and activities are scaffolding the giant task of learning to read into smaller chunks. I knew that in order to make a mahjong lesson engaging, I would have to scaffold the game into smaller chunks. Additionally, each chunk was going to have to include an opportunity for students to actually manipulate the tiles and play with them.

It was from my experience teaching elementary school that I was able to take a complex game like mahjong and make it easily accessible.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As a former elementary school teacher, turned stay at home mom, I was itching to get involved in some type of teaching again. Teaching mahjong in the evenings was a fun way for me to connect with people and do something that I love. I love teaching and I love mahjong! What started as a small endeavor teaching private lessons, slowly grew into a wider community that was bring so much joy and fulfillment. Once my students learned how to play mahjong, they started asking me where they could go out to play and meet other beginners. It was then that I decided to start working with some other local businesses to hold beginner friendly mahjong nights. I love working with shop owners to curate events that not only bring business but bring people and businesses together. One of my favorite nights is when we have open play mahjong at Summit Coffee in Eastover. Andrew King of The Butler’s Pantry designs a creative and delicious dinner menu each time and Megan Morris of Vintage Charm Charlotte does incredible table arrangements to match the theme. When guests arrive, they are welcomed by a room of friendly faces, people saying, “We’re happy you’re here”. The mahjong sets, the food, the drinks, the venue and decor are all thoughtfully put together and arranged.

As my small business has grown, my personal philosophy around mahjong has also grown and strengthened. In a post covid world, with young children, I found myself staying at home, a lot. I didn’t truly realize the extent to which it impacted my livelihood until I started to engage in social events again. Studies have shown that people who participate in regular social actives live longer. Friendships become deeper at the mahjong table, it’s a wonderful place to be unplugged for a few hours, to truly open your ears to each other. Not to mention the tremendous mental benefits from playing a cognitively challenging game.

The history and the culture of the game are also important to me. Recently a lot of new tile designs and styles of playing have popped up, for better and for worse. I think the modern adaptations are interesting but there’s certainly something to be said about knowing the traditional rules and history they come from.

In its roots, American mahjong, has always been about connection, community, and also philanthropy and it’s all those things to me plus more.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

There are several other mahjong instructors in Charlotte. I’d like to think that my reputation is unique in that I prefer to teach small groups. I prefer to actually play mahjong in the first lesson and have someone win. It’s very hard to get hooked on a game if you haven’t had a chance to win yet, so the sooner that can happen for someone the better! I also spend a lot of time preparing for each specific mahjong lesson. I try to truly meet each group where they are with how much experience and knowledge they have. I like to teach beginners and also offer advanced strategy lessons for those who have been playing for a long time.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I am by no means a social media expert, I am still learning every day. I had to become competent in the basics to promote myself on instagram. Learning how to make reels and learning how to use Canva have been essential. I have a lot of tech savvy friends to thank for that!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @MrsMerrimanMahjong