The mission of Heart Mercedes is to provide customers with high quality, unique and carefully designed, handmade jewelry.
The materials of each product are thoughtfully handpicked whether it be by a healing energy, style or with the customer in mind. All pieces are made with love, and packaged with care, profits from each purchase are used to help support the RAK Brigade.
Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped and turned upside down. Fresh Prince fans? I’d like to hit you guys with a JK but really, Heart Mercedes was started after my life went for tail spin. Let’s take a quick rewind, I was born in North Miami, Florida at a hospital that is now a well-known cooking school, yeahhhh kind of gross. Accessories have always been my favorite form of self-expression. I distinctly remember the first time I made my own jewelry, I was five years old, my mom gave me a heads up we were going to the grocery store and when you’re a kid that’s like a trip to the club! I decided to deck myself out in pipe cleaners, I was adorned in furry caterpillar looking pieces literally, I even had these antenna looking things sticking out of rings and in my hair. Lucky for me my accessory style expanded with the help of my creative Mother, who handmade all of my jewelry in High School. My Mom made me pieces from hemp chockers to, beaded earrings and bracelets. She’s the truth. Even hired her as my first employee! So when did I get into beading? I’ve always fooled around with it, but never took to the proper techniques until after graduate school. Fast forward to 2013, fresh out of graduate school (I have a masters in Social Work), I pack up my life from Dallas, TX and head back to the south, good ol’ ATL, Georgia. Long story short I started what I thought was my dream job, as an at risk youth therapist and quickly learned I was hired for a company who did not have these kids best interest at hand.
My boss saw I wasn’t down for their cause and 3 weeks in, I was fired. Told you I was not kidding about my life being flipped upside down. Darn me and my morals! There I was all alone in a new city, no job, a little savings and my dreams crushed. Needless to say I did a lot of soul searching, and decided to pull out my old bead collection, which I like to call my Robin Hood collection, because it’s a collection of dope beads I stole from my mom over time (most of which I couldn’t afford). I started back making bracelets for fun, and this was at the peak of the Instagram era. I would post my pieces just to show friends and always got great feedback. One friend re-posted a piece I made for her and it generated so much attention, I was humbled. I even got my first customer from the post! After months of promising friends I would open up a shop, it was probably a slick year later, Shop Heart Mercedes was born. Starting Heart Mercedes was about more than just making awesome jewelry but it was a lucrative hobby that I knew I could make into a business doing something I’ve always loved, while also connecting it to another passion, giving back.
I wanted to follow my dreams but also not abandon all the hard work I put behind my education. How have I married the two? No worries, I’ve left my Robin Hood ways in the past but, thanks to my amazing customers I have been able to accumulate funds to support my random Acts of Kindness movement the RAK Brigade. I’ve shown up to nursing homes with dozens of balloons (its true getting old is like begin a kid again they were tooooo hype), given out ponchos on a rainy day to over 40 homeless people, taught beading lessons to special needs kids as well as kindergartners. It’s been an amazing journey and one I’m excited to continue to embark on and watch grow. Hopefully these leaves you with a better idea of who I am and what my brand is all about, I leave you with some inspiration from my role model, Melody Ehsani, “Stop waiting to be who you already are” the journey is inside you. Don’t be good, be great!
Heart,
Mercedes
