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Mary and Merry Design Are Definitely Win-Win
Mary and Merry Design Are Definitely Win-Win
By Leonard Shapiro
Mary McEachern has a Masters degree in Scottish literature and history from St. Andrews University and once played golf at the famous nearby Old Course with a boyfriend who “made so much fun of me, I never picked up a club again.”
Though she spent two years in Scotland earning that degree, she’s never really used her unique knowledge of the highland rebellions much in her professional life as a graphic designer, art director, business strategist and public relations consultant, among her many other talents.
These days, her very busy business Merry Design is located in an upstairs office at her Marshall residence with a number of local, national and international clients who use her mostly equine-related services.
“I definitely wear a lot of hats,” she said, including a helmet when she’s out riding in the countryside.
Born in Ontario, Canada, she grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, and landed her first job after Scotland working for a cataloging firm in Boston. One of the company ’s principals told her a friend was starting up a new business and needed a graphic designer who knew horses. Would she be interested?
Mary became the fledgling SmartPak’s first creative director, working for entrepreneur owner Becky Minard, a Harvard Business School graduate. That new company created a way to deliver pre-selected, pre-measured, and prepackaged medications and supplements for individual horses.
In 2005, Inc. Magazine named SmartPak Equine the 106th fastest-growing business in America on its annual list of the 500 fastest growing private businesses, the first time an equine company made the list.
Minard became a valued mentor during the four years Mary worked for the company based in Plymouth, Massachusetts. “I traveled a lot (with Minard), and I saw how under-served the equestrian world was in marketing and design,” she said. “It was a great experience.”
There have been many more fabulous experiences, including a stint in Washington D.C. for a major public relations firm and working with clients that included Purina, Anheuser Busch and Tourism Canada. She also was employed by a Boston company, Harbor Sweets, designing their catalogues, packaging, and even the chocolates themselves.
Later, the owner, Ben Strohecker, gave his vice president, Phylis LeBlanc, seed money to start Dark Horse Chocolates. “Phyllis and I spent a summer tasting every combination of chocolate and peanut butter possible to get the “Seabiscuit” just right,” Mary said. “You could say it was a really sweet job.”
Mary also lived and ran her business a number of years from her previous home in Durham, New Hampshire. She had always enjoyed visiting the Virginia countryside and came back to the Middleburg area for three months in 2016 to do some video projects for Attwood Equestrian based in Marshall. They went so well, they asked her to stay on as their marketing director.
“I just fell in love with Virginia,” Mary said. “My business has really taken off since I came here. I do a lot of graphic design, art directing, just about anything creative involved with the business side of the equestrian world. And if there’ s something I can’t do, I have a team of highly qualified people I can call on.
“I love working with so many different clients. My clients cover an amazing range — from Olympians to Fortune 500 to smaller companies with equally lofty goals. I also do a lot of sponsorship development on a local and national level. It’ s win-win all around, and very satisfying to have an idea and just watch it blossom.”
And clearly far better than playing golf with an old and definitely long gone boyfriend at St. Andrews.
