Meet Dara Collins Donna Kassman

 

We were lucky to catch up with Dara Collins Donna Kassman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dara Collins , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

We began with a beautiful roll! We are two friends in South Florida that have been playing mahjong together for over 16 years. In 2019, we started our women-owned small business creating beautiful Mahjong Dice™ to complement the beauty of vintage and modern mahjong tiles available exclusively on ModernMahjong.com.

We knew that this was only the beginning of our mahjong adventure. The game is a delight to the senses: players love the touch and sight of the beautiful tiles, delight in the taste of the delicious treats set out by a rotating host of friends, and enjoy the sounds of the mixing of the tiles creating the sounds of sparrows,

Since then we expanded into many other mahjong and Canasta items, including writing our book a Visual Companion Guide for American Mah Jongg available on Amazon.

Soon in addition to creating elegant gifts and accessories for the game, we found our purpose: to build our Mahjong Community, to help players make connections and learn and improve their game, while giving back to important causes. It is amazing how the game has expanded our lives and our friendships. Through mahjong, we have good friends that we visit annually in New York and LA.

We are thrilled to have built a community both locally and virtually. We host local events, live Zooms, and classes. Since 2019, we have raised over $160,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association and other charities through events and preorders of the National Mah Jongg League card.

Our Facebook group, Mahjong Community, has over 30,000 members in the US and beyond and continues to grow. Players share in our group where they are looking for games near their home or during vacations and connect with other players. Lifelong friendships are made. The flow of the game, whether mahjong or Canasta, beautifully lends itself to play, conversation while setting up, and then play.

During the pandemic, we hosted virtual tournaments and have connected players that still play together weekly. We are hosting our first Virtual Series to learn to play by National Mah Jongg League Rules and registration is now open on https://modernmahjong.com/products/learntoplaymahjongg. Players can make a small investment in themselves which will have unlimited dividends. Mahjong is hobby with incredible benefits of meeting new friends and wonderful benefits for memory and brain health. With many jobs still hybrid or virtual, younger players are enjoying mahjong to connect with other players in person. Soon to be empty nesters are planning for exciting activities to fill their free time.

Through our Mahjong Zooms, we met Donna Miller-Small when she was a guest to discuss strategy. This led Dara to co-authoring Modern American Canasta: The Complete Guide with Donna. They then taught a series Learn to Play Canasta for AARP and hope to build the same type of community for Canasta through Facebook.com/groups/ModernAmericanCanasta.

Both mahjong and Canasta are wonderful for players of all ages to engage – to put down their electronics, sit down at a table, and connect with players that become friends.

We hope this encourages piques the readers interest and invite you to join us on Facebook.com/groups/MahjongCommunity. Welcome to the wonderful world of mahjong! If players have any questions, they can contact us at [email protected].
Peace Love Mahjong, Dara and Donna

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

We knew when we began with a beautiful roll of Mahjong Dice™ that it was just the beginning. There are many new products in our curated collection of mahjong gifts and accessories.

We also love collaborating with other companies to create items that are coveted by players! We worked with Haute Shore to design our Everything Tote. Players love that we thought of all the details that a mahjong player would appreciate since we are authentic and love to play the game. If companies have an idea to work with us, they can email us at [email protected].

Other new products are not released yet … so we can’t give away details, but we invite players to check on ModernMahjong.com to see what’s new!

Since then we expanded into many other mahjong and Canasta items, including writing our book a Visual Companion Guide for American Mah Jongg available on Amazon.

Soon in addition to creating elegant gifts and accessories for the game, we found our purpose: to build our Mahjong Community, to help players make connections and learn and improve their game, while giving back to important causes. It is amazing how the game has expanded our lives and our friendships. Through mahjong, we have good friends that we visit annually in New York and LA.

We are hosting our first Virtual Series to learn to play by National Mah Jongg League Rules and registration is now open on https://modernmahjong.com/products/learntoplaymahjongg. Players can make a small investment in themselves which will have unlimited dividends. Mahjong is hobby with incredible benefits of meeting new friends and wonderful benefits for memory and brain health. With many jobs still hybrid or virtual, younger players are enjoying mahjong to connect with other players in person. Soon to be empty nesters are planning for exciting activities to fill their free time.

We hope this encourages piques the readers interest and invite you to join us on Facebook.com/groups/MahjongCommunity. Welcome to the wonderful world of mahjong! If players have any questions, they can contact us at [email protected].

Peace Love Mahjong, Dara and Donna

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

To us, the most important qualities that are impactful on our journey is being authentic, appreciating the history of the game, having knowledge, knowing where to find it, and passing it on to continue to the next generation of player.s

We are mahjong players for over 16 years. We know and love the game and the rules of National Mah Jongg League play. If a player asks a question with a clearcut answer, we cite to the official rules and graphics in our Visual Companion Guide for American Mah Jongg. And if there is confusion on an issue, we reach out to to the NMJL for clarification.

We love supporting other players and teachers to continue to share our knowledge. Many players, teachers, tournament directors, restorers, and collectors of mahjong sets, and authors have been exceptionally generous with their knowledge. We host Zoom talks at our time and expense using our Zoom account, emails, graphics, and time to create, organize and host these events. When possible the majority of our events are at no cost to players thanks also to the generosity of our guests.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

We have many upcoming product and event ideas and would love to collaborate with other like minded businesses and venues.

We are committed to raising funds for important causes and have worked with Fran Drescher to raise funds for Cancer Schmancer, Laura Geller Beauty to donate to Cancer and Careers, the Alzheimer’s Association, and many other incredible organizations. Our collaborations can include both in-person events, virtual tournaments, and product design.

Additionally, Mahjong and Canasta are exceptionally trendy right now and adding these options for guests is both a service to guests and a draw for venues. Restaurants, hotels, resorts, or other venues interested in finding out more about hosting Modern Mahjong game nights and retreats can contact us. We would love to discuss these opportunities.

As for products, we have both mahjong and Canasta products in production and are always looking to collaborate to design products specifically with mahjong and Canasta players, like how we worked hand in hand with Haute Shore to ensure our Everything Tote has all the features and design appreciated by mahjong players. For the possibility of future collaborations, email us at [email protected] .

Contact Info:

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