There is a fascinating duplicity about Macy Jahoda, which makes her trajectory and journey as a creative entrepreneur interesting to observe. On one hand, her compatibility with gender normative values is duly reflected in the way she exceptionally embraces her role as a young mother. On the other hand, her immensely competitive spirit and her undying love for automobiles constitutes a defiant level of gender non-conformity.
That duplicity permeates into her brand philosophy and has contributed significantly to the success of Mace The Brand thus far. The brand fuses streetwear and luxury activewear, within the patriotic context of car culture. Since its inception, Mace The Brand has been donned by Caribbean music icons like Nailah Blackman and social media influencers like Amber Quin and Jasmine Blandford (chola_girl), also contributing to its popularity. Having been recently appointed as the Vice President of Hi Esteem Agency, in addition to being the C.E.O of Mace The Brand comes with unenviable challenges. Jahoda makes it her point of duty to initiate our conversation by highlighting and acknowledging her support system- the MTB team!
“Community, collaboration, trust, creative freedom, and accountability all come to mind when I think of the MTB Team. Teamwork is effective when you give individuals the full opportunity to thrive in their lane and trust they will execute their piece of the puzzle with the same care the I have as the C.E.O. Community and message are extremely vital to any living organism. I love listening to my team as they bounce ideas amongst each other. It’s interesting to see how they interpret the brand philosophy. We have hours and hours of meetings to make sure everyone and every project aligns fully with what we believe. I truly care and love my team. We will all go much further together in our career than we will apart. I enjoy watching them thrive and grow outside the context of the brand. Personal development within the community brings me joy. I wish for us to grow as full creatives and happy individuals. “
Her new collection MTB Performance draws heavy aesthetic influence from BMW and Macy expands on the concept by asserting that “This collection is inspired by my love for car meet-up culture and high-performance cars. Ever since my formative years, I’ve been coming to different meetups. Car meetups are a safe space for us, automobile enthusiasts, to bond over our incalculable fondness of high-performance vehicles. “The high performance in the cars is found in the engine but for us, the high performance is in the quality of the dances and content we create.” Jahoda’s decision to infuse this culture into her brand creates an air of openness grounded by passion and commonality which is essential for any lifestyle brand.
“In preparation for a performance. We typically start with a minimum of 3-hour rehearsals and social hours for the dancers. I want the dancers to love the project and have organic chemistry together. The more time we spend building bonds, the better the dance becomes. Next are dress rehearsals, configuring formations, hair, makeup, then it’s shoot time! lol, Physical shape and health are vital, so in the future, I plan on organizing group workouts to encourage the girls to stay as healthy as possible. “
She furthered her explanation of the syncretism between car culture and fashion by stating that “I personally love the classic BMW E30 the most. so we meshed that energy with retro nostalgic design elements. MTB performance represents so many things: from the daily grind of everything I am engaged in, to the actual dance performances you see. There’s a certain standard we keep consistent across the brand with each facet of what we do. I think people are becoming more accustomed to seeing the brand put on productions and produce lots of creative shoots. It’s all about getting people familiar with expecting the unexpected from MTB”
Detractors and cynics may hone in on the relationship between car culture and women, which has often been deemed as materialistic and objectifying to females. In countless music videos, we have seen the antiquated approach in the creative direction taken, where the visuals mainly consist of women gyrating on cars, and for many that imagery has become tiresome. We asked Jahoda her thoughts on this dynamic and she calmly asserted that ” I think someone with that perspective would really have to develop a greater understanding of car culture because there are a lot of women who genuinely love and appreciate cars in the same way that men do. I definitely understand that some women identify cars as a status symbol and that’s where the materialism comes in but some are really just drawn to the aesthetics and the engineering. They really couldn’t care less about who is driving the car. “
