How The Mayfair Group Turned A Mental Health Platform Into A Celeb-Beloved Brand

Sam Abrahart launched The Mayfair Group from her bed in 2016. At the time, she was burnt out and depressed, and spent most of her time scrolling social media. This was the era of the highly-curated Instagram grid, so she saw image after image of people living their best lives. “I was sitting there looking at photos and thinking, ‘How are you on a yacht? I’m literally in bed and can’t get out,’” the 32-year-old tells Bustle. “It made me feel incredibly isolated.”

Then it dawned on her: Why not create a digital safe space where people could come together and be honest about their mental health? “The Mayfair Group started as a positive messaging platform on Instagram,” Abrahart says. “We would do an introspective post, and then people would support each other in the comments. It was a way to meet people and support each other in our human journeys, which at the time was not really done on the internet.”

The Instagram page quickly took off. “I don't think I realized how many people were feeling the way I was feeling,” she says. Today, The Mayfair Group has expanded into a retail line with cute sweatshirts and T-shirts with catchy — and super comforting — phrases emblazoned across the front, like “Empathy” and “You Complete Yourself,” which have been spotted on A-listers like J.Lo and Bella Hadid. And Abrahart says there’s more from the brand to come.

Ahead, Abrahart talks about depression, how she leads her company as a CEO, and the alter ego she channels to get through tough meetings.

Tell me more about why you decided to launch a mental health platform.

For my entire life, I've navigated severe depression and anxiety, so when I started my career working in corporate fashion, I experienced incredible burnout. Back then, everyone was portraying this false sense of self on social media, so I started to think about creating a digital safe space to help people feel less alone where we could talk about mental health and the human experience.

I was up all night anyway with my sleep anxiety, so I started to curate this concept. It was almost like I took my anxiety and channeled it into creativity, which has always been my most powerful outlet.

What was the process like of growing your business to what it is today?

Over the course of the first year, our content started going viral. Through cultivating that community, I started hiring because we were growing as a service business on the side. I hired my COO and co-owner, Devonne Badelt, who came from &Other Stories and Forever 21 Group, and she was also a product developer. I remember on her first day we were talking about products because everyone was asking for them. That’s how we decided to put our positive messaging on sweatshirts and T-shirts to create more of a ripple effect in the world.

We launched our website on March 8, 2020, which was one week before the world was shut down, so it was just like universal synchronicity and timing. We launched the site and everything changed after that.

As the founder and CEO, what does your average day look like?

I start the day with meditation. I never like to start my day in what I call reactive mode — I like to be really intentional. I'll also journal in the morning, and then spend some time creative thinking in the morning.

The biggest thing about Mayfair is storytelling, whether it's through products or campaigns, so I'm always trying to think about how we can create something that's going to continue to speak to that core mission. Day-to-day is pretty much overseeing, working on budgets, planning the future, and then a little bit of creative storytelling.

How do you pump yourself up when you aren’t feeling 100%?

I'm always tapping into my Sammy energy. Sammy is the 10-year-old me who was fearless, who entered every room with magnetism, and who had this expansive energy, imagination, and creativity. I do a ton of shadow work, and something I’ve been working on for about a year and a half is getting in touch with Sammy. I want to channel her in everything that I do.

Before big meetings, I also like to be honest about where I’m at. To me, the most powerful thing that you can do as a leader is to cultivate a safe space in meetings. It's so powerful to set the intention of the room. If you’re feeling anxious, it’s OK to be honest about it.

For women in business, we often feel this need to show up as a kind of hard ass, but for me, it’s more about leaning into how I’m feeling in the moment. My hope is that it cultivates a space where everyone can show up as they are, regardless of how they’re feeling. It creates a dialogue and a creative energy that’s very powerful.

How do you relax after a particularly trying day?

When I take time off or head into the weekend, I do what I call rest, play, and re-inspire. To rest, I’ll sit on the couch, watch a Netflix show, and eat takeout. To play, I’ll do something creative that isn’t related to my job that’s just for fun, like painting pottery or taking a dance class. Then, to re-inspire, I’ll do something to reignite inspiration outside of work. Once a month on Sundays, I'll do free one-hour Zoom calls with new founders or entrepreneurs to connect to people who are just starting out in their journeys. My hope is that it’s a way for me to be of service to people who are where I was six years ago.

What type of advice do you give them?

I try to think of the ways I’d like to show up as a leader, as well as what could be beneficial for a new generation of leaders who are more healed and able to create safe spaces in business. I also tell people it's not what you do, it's the way you show up.

In a world that is driven so much by output, performance, numbers, and bottom line, I think it's really, really powerful and almost rebellious to say, "No, it's going to be about the way that I show up."

What’s coming up next? Anything you’re extra excited about?

We're launching this year in 30 Nordstrom stores across the country, which is really exciting. People have been asking for Mayfair to be in stores, so this will be an opportunity for the brand to be accessible to everybody.

We also launched a therapy fund last year to give people free access to mental healthcare, and next year we'll be expanding that fund. There are so many talent collaborations, too, that we'll be doing next year that are really, really big.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.