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Owning a stationery and gift company was not exactly what Olivia
Mullin had in mind when she graduated from Vanderbilt Nursing
School in 1984. Her dream was to pursue a career in
nursing. Immediately after graduation, she accepted a
position in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Vanderbilt
Hospital. In 1987, she was offered a coveted position at
Tennessee Donor Services as an organ donor coordinator, working
along side Dr. Bill Frist and other local surgeons in procuring
organs for transplantation. Following the birth of her
first child in 1989, Olivia decided to be a stay-at-home mom, and
her nursing career was put on hold. Little did she know,
this decision would cause a dramatic turn in her career path.
While at home, Olivia taught herself calligraphy, and in 1992
she started the Olivia Mullin Calligraphy Company. She
marketed her services primarily to local paper stores. The
stores would refer brides-to-be to Olivia, and she would
hand-address the wedding invitations. Olivia soon found
herself doing more than just addressing invitations. She
began offering hand-monogrammed stationery to these brides-to-be that they
could use as hostess gifts and party favors. And then came
the idea: What if already personalized, high quality
stationery could be placed in a store for a customer to
purchase?
Olivia's concept was to offer the retailer cute, personalized
stationery at very reasonable prices! She developed the
idea and produced her first product line of personalized
thank-you notes called Neat Notes. In the beginning, each
note was personalized by hand in Olivia's unique writing style.
Neat Notes were placed in the first store in Nashville in March
of 1995 and were an immediate hit! The name Olivia Mullin
Calligraphy Company was shortened to Olivia Mullin Company, and
the rest is history. Today the original Neat Notes line of
stationery continues to utilize Olivia's own unique handwriting
style and is a stationery staple. Olivia Mullin Co. product lines are now sold nationwide. |
