We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mo Merrell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I took a risk when I chose to quit my full time executive assistant job in 2021 to open a store in the Mall of America. I shared the Community Commons space in MOA with 7 other small businesses. I brought my sewing machine to the store and sat in the window sewing day in and day out between 7-10 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was an amazingly challenging time spent in that store where I experienced moments with customers that will live in my heart forever and also experienced some of the hardest challenges as a business owner.

The risk I took paid off in the end in so many ways. I made money, sure, but I learned where I wanted my business to go. Before opening the store, I had plans for a brick and mortar in my head but after experiencing the store in MOA  I decided that I didn’t want a brick and mortar store of my own just yet, if ever. I want to have my bags in multiple stores around the country and maybe one day open a store where I get to sew inside by the window so people can see how a bag is made as they loved watching me create bags at Community Commons.

Mo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started being artistic when I was a kid. I used to make my Barbie doll clothing out of electrical tape. As I got older my mother taught me to mend my clothing by hand and that opened my creative senses to dabble in a few artistic areas, but it always came back to sewing. After getting my first sewing machine in my 20’s to sew clothing I made for local fashion shows, I decided that clothing was not the area I wanted to focus on. After I quit sewing clothing, I took a few years off sewing until I watched a YouTube video in 2016 about making a simple zipper pouch. It didn’t look too challenging, so I tore up an ottoman, took the fabric off and made myself a few zipper pouches and from there I have the business I have now.

I named my business Mars Jameson after my parents. My mom’s name was Marsha and my dad’s name is James and together it sounded perfect! While my mom isn’t here to see what she helped create in me, I feel her presence every time I sew a handbag and imagine what she would say about it.

Learning to sew bags came with its own set of challenges as it’s very different from clothing. I didn’t stick to one type of bag; I like to make different kinds, but different bags come with different challenges. Bag making can be done with a pattern or without a pattern. I use both patterns I purchase from my favorite pattern makers, or I create a bag of my own design. Both methods have its challenges, but I enjoy the process and it helps me to stay creative and open to new designs and methods of sewing.

If you asked me what sets me apart from other bag makers, I wouldn’t know what to tell you because I am Me, I’m Mo, I don’t like to compare myself to others because I know there are others out there better than me. I sew with my heart; I make bags that I would use and believe my customers would want to use. I take my life into account when creating a bag, but I also think about the clients’ lives and what I’d like to create for them to solve the issues they have with finding that near-perfect bag! One of the reasons I love custom work is because the client gets to pick the design, fabric, and hardware and I get to bring their item to life, and it be a one of a kind. The joy I get from a customer seeing the final result is everything to me and fuels me to stay consistent and continue creating from the heart.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Currently my goal is to be in as many stores as I can around the Twin Cities and eventually out of state. My creative journey is different from what it was a few years ago. Now I have a vision and a mission on where I want Mars Jameson to go.

I’d love to take on more custom work outside of the made-to-order styles on my website.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I realized that starting the store meant more than I understood. I didn’t quite grasp the entirety of what it took to run a store, even in such a small, shared space. I wanted to keep pushing out bags every day from morning to night, but life took a turn and I had to adjust. I needed more income, so I found a PT job at a clothing store in the Mall of America. I had to pull double duty and somehow made it work where I was able to still sew for long hours in a day and work a PT job. What I didn’t take into consideration was my overall health. I suffer from a condition called Fibromyalgia which caused quite a stir in my journey being in Community Commons.

Sewing 7 days a week, 7-10 hours a day took a toll on my health. I wasn’t eating well because I was sewing all day and didn’t think to stop and eat. I lost weight and the pain from fibromyalgia began to interfere with my sewing, which it rarely did. I sort of lost it, I had drained myself so thin with working in the store, working a PT job, raising a son, and trying to figure out what I wanted from my business. A month before September, the Mall of America asked if we wanted to extend our leases until the new year and I opted out. It meant missing the holiday season which would have been amazing financially, but I had no energy left, no desire to keep going. I was in so much pain physically that my mental became affected. I left the store in September of 2021 and unfortunately landed myself in the hospital for a 3 day stay. I was exhausted and I felt like I had nothing to show for it but that was when my lesson came into view. I had no plan; I just took the store and had no actual plan on how to proceed and so I worked unreasonably hard until I broke.

In the hospital, a light came on in my head and that pivotal moment rose to the forefront of my thoughts. “What’s next?” I never thought about quitting, I just had to come up with a plan on how to proceed so that my physical and mental health never takes a toll on me again. That stay in the hospital afforded me 72 hours of thinking. I was able to write a summary of what I’d like Mars Jameson to be, I even finally figured out the correct cost price of each bag, I hand drew a brochure I wanted Mars Jameson to have and figured out a few other details. I did the work I should have done before I got into the store.

What came next was a pause. I stopped sewing for a few months so that I could focus on getting control of the fibromyalgia pain and I worked only at the clothing store, taking on a FT position while looking for a FT Executive Assistant again. I knew that I needed to make more money to fund my business and I couldn’t do that on a retail job salary. I spent time sewing off and on, doing a few pop-up shops, discovering new styles, and working retail until I finally found my career FT position in June of 2023 as a Business Coordinator for a mental health crisis program. Now, I have a plan. My bags are in two stores, The Meet Minneapolis Store in downtown Minneapolis and TB’z Customs, a small business owner in Saint Paul who makes the most adorable custom crocs you’d ever see. I welcomed my granddaughter in July, I have control of my pain again, my mental is back on track, and I am thriving while creating bags every day still but at a slower pace than before.

I did not once feel like a failure because I left the Mall of America. I felt successful having made and sold over 300 bags in 7 months. I learned where I wanted to take my business and how to manage the life I have now working a FT job, PT in MOA, owning a business and helping my son raise a baby. I don’t have it all figured out yet but I have a good idea of where I’m going.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.marsjameson.com
• Instagram: @marsjamesonbrand
• Other: tiktok @mosa_on_mars