Club Meeting: MJ Lehman

With a passion for creativity, attention to detail, and a love for business, MJ Lehman has enjoyed over 35 years in the retail/consumer arena. MJ is a graduate of Cornell University and a native of New York State. Her background includes many small and not-so-small entrepreneurial ventures including a purse-making business back in high school that lead her to a degree in Design and Marketing at Cornell.

MJ began her career at Joann Fabrics as a store manager and spent three years in various stores around the east coast. Next she came to Cleveland and led Product Merchandising Communications for the Joann chain of stores. From that role she spent 12 years in buying and product development. MJ’s Business Travels included numerous countries in Europe and Asia where she developed and sourced products. Of note, MJ launched the original Quilting and Home Décor businesses for Joann and expanded the programs to over 1000 stores. 

 

MJ also was responsible for launching andmerchandising Joann.com. As Senior Vice President of Joann stores, MJ’s scope ofbusiness included Seasonal, Craft, Floral, Framing, Décor, Quilting and Fashion Apparel. A little known fact is that MJ was one of three senior merchants to conceive and develop the mega Joann store here in Hudson. MJ enjoyed over 21 years at Joann Stores.

In 2004, Hudson enjoyed the arrival of First and Main and MJ decided to research opening a retail venture of her own. In July of 2005, Hudson welcomed Nicky Nicole, a “cool shop for girls” to First Street...an original concept store targeted to girls, parents, and grandparents who loved to spoil them! The brand expanded quickly to two additional locations and a website as well. 

 

Nicky Nicole welcomed families and friends for over 12 years and evolved as products and the marketplace changed. Nicky Nicole was proud to receive the Hudson Business of the Year award in 2006 and 2016. For reasons that were personal and related to the explosion of online sales, Nicky Nicole made the difficult decision in January of 2017 to not renew their lease and to wind down operations.

The next chapter for MJ included more community involvement and the launch of her own marketing and consulting practice. MJ is a proud graduate of the Leadership Hudson Class of 2016 and is even more proud of her leadership in creating the Hudson Farmers Market Cookbook. You might also recognize MJ as the vocalist for the Western Reserve Community Band and the Western Reserve Big Band. She has enjoyed singing with the bands for many years at lots of Hudson events.