1 day Ago By Vicki Gerdes
DETROIT LAKES — There may not have been a lot of mountains in and around the Detroit Lakes community where Stephanie Disse grew up (Detroit Mountain being the obvious exception), but that didn't stop her from naming her fledgling home-based business Mountaingirl when she first opened it back in October 2023. "My tag line is, 'Find adventure wherever you go,'" says Disse, explaining that she and her husband, Jesse (also a Detroit Lakes native), strive to bring "the spirit of the mountains" into whatever they're doing, wherever they happen to be. "It's a lifestyle, not just a brand.
" ADVERTISEMENT But that brand — i.e., the Mountaingirl logo — can be found on all of the products that she markets through her website, mountaingirlmn.
com. In the beginning, those products included "one sweatshirt, one hat and a t-shirt" that were produced locally by Lakeshirts. She worked to develop her brand and accompanying blog with the help of another local entrepreneur, Dawn Duncan.
"For me, being outdoors and in nature has helped me through some tough times," she said, explaining some of the company's philosophy. "I just want to spread that message to people, and encourage them to embrace it, (by) trying something new, getting out of your comfort zone." Since then, her business has expanded to include several sweatshirts, t-shirts (short and long-sleeved), hoodies, jackets, vests, hats, jewelry, journals, essential oils, wooden spoons and spatulas, pens, tote bags and more.
She's recently added some men's clothing items as well. She tries to obtain her products from local entrepreneurs whenever possible — taking advantage of the fact that some of the smaller businesses in the area don't require her to order products in large batches, so she can "test out" some of her newer items to see if they'll sell well before ordering in larger quantities. Her client list has also expanded considerably through marketing at local vendor events like this past Saturday's Spring Market Shops at the Washington Square Mall to the Shady Hollow Flea Market, summer festivals and street fairs, as well as expanding to incorporate a few shows in the Twin Cities and Fargo-Moorhead area.
She also markets some of her products at local businesses Essence Edge and Ambience Salon. In the past, she's always just piled everything into the back of her vehicle and headed off on her latest adventure, whether it's another show or delivering some of her products personally to local clients. Within the past few weeks, however, she's acquired a trailer that will soon incorporate the Mountaingirl logo, though she hasn't had a chance to paint it on there yet.
"But it already had some mountains on it!" Disse said excitedly, pulling up a photo that showed the previous owners had, indeed, stenciled the outline of some mountains onto one side of the trailer. It's just the latest in a series of serendipitous events that have occurred along Disse's journey to entrepreneurship. ADVERTISEMENT That journey began when she and Jesse were attending a three-day music festival in Montana.
On the drive over there, the song "Mountain Girl" came up on the radio, and Jesse started singing it to her. "On our way home, as a joke, I said we should start a company called Mountaingirl," Disse recalled. A few days later, that random thought came up again, and Jesse's response this time was, "Maybe we should.
" "So I started designing some logos, and it evolved from there," she said. Currently, Mountaingirl is not Disse's full-time occupation, though she clearly loves it. "Creating community is important," she said, adding that she has loved getting to know the people at the flea market and vendor events that she attends.
To that end, she hopes to start hosting weekly "Mountaingirl Meetups" in the community this summer, possibly as soon as May 6. "I don't want to make it complicated," she said. "We'll just get together, get outside, make friends.
" She will post the events on Mountaingirl's Facebook page when those plans become more definitive. ADVERTISEMENT.
