Meet Mallory Martin | Social Impact Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mallory Martin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mallory, how does your business help the community?
Mended is a social impact business with a mission is to provide economic empowerment to survivors of modern-day slavery through the production of block printed textiles created for the global-conscious partner. Our team of 23 men and women live in a rural community in South India and, while no longer enslaved, were having a very difficult time finding consistent work paying fair wages. Mended was able to train the team on the centuries-old printing technique of block printing and have provided consistent orders since the fall of 2020.

What should our readers know about your business?
Oh, there is just still so much to learn! There are still so many ways I’d like to grow! Three years ago, I took the first step of faith and reduced my hours at IJM in order to pursue Mended. Two years ago, I fully jumped off the cliff of stability into entrepreneurship. My very favorite part of creating Mended is the DAILY learning and problem-solving. Most times, the learning is coming from failures. Sometimes, the learning comes from successes. My faith in Jesus is the reason I do this work and it is the way I can overcome all of the failures. I have confidence that if this is work that He wants me to be doing, He’ll give me the wisdom to overcome the challenge or He’ll provide the miracle needed. If He doesn’t want me doing this work, I pray that it fails fast.

One of Mended’s core beliefs is that restoration begins at your table. This restoration comes to life when a customer purchases a product made by survivors of modern-day slavery and the survivor’s restoration sustains AND this restoration comes to life in the consumer’s home when they set their table with beautiful linens and open their home up for a home cooked meal. The hope is that these practices encourage meaningful conversations and relationship restoration can occur around the table.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Dallas is such a wonderful city full of wonderful people, fabulous food and lively sites. Undoubtedly, my best friend and I would: Drink margs and eat queso at Mariano’s
Attend a Cool Thursday concert at the Dallas Arboretum
Cocktails and appetizers at R+D Kitchen
Play Pickleball at The Sandy Pickle

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There would be no Mended without International Justice Mission. While working with the global non-profit, IJM, I fell in love with their mission of ending violence against the poor and became convinced that their theory of change was the non-negotiable way to achieve the mission. I believe that Mended is on the same mission as IJM, but we’re just playing a different role.

Website: https://www.mended.co/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mended_co/

Image Credits
Laura Seale