Behind the Scenes of Soirée All Day's Mahj Mag Feature

A cold email, a Charleston supper club, a hand-carved tile set from halfway around the world, and a Shih Tzu who appointed himself head of the table. The full story behind how we landed in Mahj Mag's Charleston issue.

The Email I Almost Didn't Believe

Late last year, an email came through the contact form on my website. It was from a writer named Allison Hatfield, working on a new, coffee-table-style magazine called Mahj Mag — a quarterly that spotlights a different city each issue and the people and businesses defining its Mahjong culture. The summer issue would be all about Charleston, and she wanted to know if I'd be interested in being interviewed.

My first thought, if I'm being honest: wait — is this real?

(It was).

I set up a call with Allison, and we talked a couple of weeks later. I'm not going to lie — I was nervous. I learned to play mahjong only a couple of years ago, and while I've built a mahjong stationery line and an affiliate program for instructors that I'm really proud of, I am not exactly the lady about town playing mahjong. So my very first question was the obvious one: how on earth did you find me?

Turns out the magazine's editor, Kathy Wise, had handed Allison a short list of Charleston people to interview, and my name was on it. Allison was doing her due diligence ahead of a trip to Charleston in the new year, and asked if we could meet when she was in town.

Of course I said yes. And almost immediately, I thought of someone I wanted to bring into it: my friend and fellow brand strategist Nehal Harley, the woman behind CHS Mahj Finder. Nehal's account curates Charleston's mahjong community — the events, the classes, the fundraisers — and there is truly no one better at connecting people around a table. I mentioned her to Allison, who didn't miss a beat: "Of course, I'd love to meet with her too!"So I called Nehal, told her about the whole thing, and of course, she was in.

"Be our Charleston tour guides”

Early in the new year, Allison came back with her idea for the spread: she wanted Nehal and me to play tour guides. If you were planning a mahjong weekend in Charleston for you and your besties, what would you do?

The “Guide to Charleston” that Nehal and I submitted to Allison Hatfield, writer for Mähj Mag. Of course I made it cute!

What a fun assignment. I've lived in Charleston for the better part of twenty years; Nehal relocated from NYC during the pandemic, landed downtown, and has made quick work of getting to know the city (translation: she’s way cooler than me, and is the lady about town playing mahjong). We met over lunch at Ma'am Saab downtown and built our list — where to eat, where to drink, where to relax, what to see, and of course, where to play.

The plan was to actually do a handful of the things on our list while Allison was in town together, so she could experience them firsthand.

And then the editor wanted a photo shoot

About a week before her visit, we received an email that changed the temperature: the magazine's editor, Kathy Wise, would also be coming to town too — and she wanted to schedule a photo shoot.

Wait, what?!

Yes. And also: this upped the ante just a little.

Allison asked if we had anywhere "fabulous" to shoot. And as a matter of fact, we did. Nehal's home, South of Broad, has been meticulously designed by Sanford Collective Interiors, red lacquer walls and Ferrick Mason wallpaper and all. She generously offered it up, and we were off to the races.

When Allison got to town, we spent a full day showing her some of our favorite corners of the Lowcountry: lunch on the roof at the Citrus Club; a visit to Jackie Rice at The Happy Southerner in Mt. Pleasant, who stocks an unbelievable selection of mahjong tiles, mats, and accessories (and teaches, too); then over to the Old Village for a stroll past Out of Hand, Pitt Street Bridge, and Alhambra Hall.

One of our stops on the tour was The Happy Southerner in Mt. Pleasant, where we played a game of mahjong with owner Jackie Rice (right).

The day of the shoot, in walked the Mahj magazine team: editor Kathy Wise, deputy editor Samantha Murphy, photographer Elizabeth Lavin, and creative director Marshall McKinney — whose work as a founding creative and design director of Garden & Gun I've admired for years. As a designer myself, that one was a genuine pinch-me moment.

The concept was a Charleston supper club, with Nehal and me as hosts and a spread prepared by chef Caroline Wynne of Ginger Vine Events. The food came together, the table came together, and we shot all afternoon.

And here's the thing about Nehal's home: it is stunning and impeccably designed, but it's also lived in — layered with kids' artwork, concert tickets, family heirlooms, photographs, and a whole lot of plants. Every single thing has a story behind it, and it was perfect.

The two who stole the show

The first was Leroy — Nehal's Shih Tzu and a true gentleman of leisure. (If he looks familiar, he's the Shih Tzu in the Pets Playing Mahj print Nehal and I dreamed up together — seated, naturally, beside my late Persian, Ming Lee.) Leroy turned out to be a complete natural, and it became very clear, very quickly, that he WAS going to be in this shoot. More than a few of the final frames are Nehal and me setting platters on the table while Leroy presides from the head of it.

Serving Leroy, Nehal’s discerning Shih Tzu, who had sat himself at the head of the table. Naturally.

The second star wasn't a person at all. When the team arrived, the first thing Kathy asked was for us to set out every mat and tile set we had. I laid mine out fully expecting them to reach for something new and trendy from the lineup. Instead, every eye went straight to my hand-carved, hand-painted wood Chinese mahjong set — the one my father-in-law brought back for me from a trip to China in 2024. Kathy and Samantha carefully arranged the tiles for a game of Chinese mahjong, and the shutter started going.

Editors Kathy Wise and Samantha Murphy arranging the tiles from my wood set for Chinese mahjong.

We shot all over the house that afternoon. I'd also brought along some of my wrapping paper and mahjong products; they ran out of time to photograph them that day, so they took them back to their Airbnb to shoot there. (As it happened, snow down South stranded them in Charleston a little longer than planned, so it all worked out.)

The wait — and the reveal

This was January. The magazine wouldn't come out until June. So for months, I had no idea what they'd use, or how, or whether our little Charleston-with-your-bestie guide would even make the cut.

It did — and then some. The main feature, Ladies Who Lunch, tells Nehal's and my story. I won't give it all away here (you'll want the issue for that), but I will say I'm so flattered by the company I get to keep in it — interviews with organizers like Holy Mahj, gorgeous places like the The Sanctuary and Dunlin Hotels, and a whole feature on some of my favorite Johns Island businesses. As a resident of Johns Island, that last one I was especially glad to see. The area so often gets overlooked next to downtown Charleston, and watching it get its moment was a real treat.

When I look back on all of it — the email I almost didn't believe, the lunch, the list, the supper club, the dog at the head of the table — the part that stays with me isn't the shoot. It's that the whole thing started the way the best things around here always do: with people gathered around a table. That's the entire reason Soirée All Day exists. Mahjong brings people together, and I just like making the paper that helps them keep celebrating with each other long after the tiles are put away.

The full story, and the photos to go with it, is in the Charleston issue of Mahj Mag, out now and so worth grabbing.