When Monica Nassif was working to bring her line of cleaning products to the mass market, she knew she would need a strong name and look to draw customers.
"We were brainstorming about our own personal values. I grew up in Iowa. My mother was frugal, hardworking, earnest," Nassif said. "She really believes in saving Mother Nature, and we just said we should just name this after my mom."
Nassif called her mom, Thelma Meyer, to ask about using her name from the brand, and Meyer's response was, "What's a brand?"
Over the years Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day has become a household name, filling up department store shelves with bottles of soaps and sprays in floral and earthy scents — including 'Iowa Pine' — and Meyer has become a spokeswoman.
Nassif wrote how her Iowa upbringing with the real life Mrs. Meyer influenced her path as an entrepreneur in the part-memoir, part-business how-to book, I Bottled My Mother: The Mrs. Meyer’s Story: Grit, Grime & Growing a Business.
"She was ahead of FedEx and Delta," Nassif said of how her mother ran the home with nine children. "She had a hub and spoke system. The hub was without question her sewing machine, and the spokes were a garden, nap area, washing machine, kitchen."
Meyer herself grew up a scrappy kid, the oldest of eight children, riding bareback on a Shetland pony at her family’s Kansas farm. She went to nursing school, and continued working as a nurse after she got married (and had all nine children within 10 years of each other).
Nassif described growing up with independence and valuing what her mother called "the confidence of a paycheck." She took on babysitting, cut weeds out of soybean fields and then lied about her age at 15 to become a truck stop waitress.
"My dad thought I was on the road to prostitution. However, I had a fantastic boss, and he really level set expectations," Nassif said. "The first day I showed up, he shows me a big carafe of coffee, and this guy was huge. He said, 'You see this pot of coffee? Someone touches you. Someone says something inappropriate. You pour that coffee in their lap and have them see me.'"
Later, Nassif's dad promised to buy her an electric typewriter if she quit smoking cigarettes, which led to a secretary job at the emergency room at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Nassif then began her professional life as a nurse, following in her mom's footsteps, before going back to school for an English degree and landing an internship at Dayton Hudson, which is now the Target Corporation. Fittingly, her mom has been a key part of Nassif's biggest business success.
At 94, Meyer said she loves to travel and talk to people, and being a spokeswoman for her daughter's company has let her do both. Nassif said her mom still says yes to the opportunities that come her way.
In the Iowa Famous series, we're highlighting people with all types of connections to our state who have made an impact in arts, politics, social justice, education, sports and more. View all the Iowa Famous stories here. Have an idea of someone we should feature? Email talkofiowa@iowapublicradio.org.
