Mortimer was born in Richmond, Virginia, where she grew up, attending St. Catherine\'s School. Her father was George Riley Mercer Jr., a wealthy real-estate investor, and her mother is Dale Mercer (née Tatum), an interior designer. Her paternal grandfather, George Riley Mercer Sr., founded Mercer Rug Cleansing in 1936. She grew up with one sister, Dabney Mercer. Mortimer attended the Lawrenceville School, where she was a member of the Kirby House. She went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a freshman in college, but shortly dropped out of Chapel Hill to attend Columbia University. While waiting to be accepted at Columbia, she worked as a volunteer for a year at Habitat for Humanity in Washington, D.C. At Columbia, she was a member of St. Anthony Hall. She graduated from Columbia with a BA in art history, and later obtained her Master\'s degree in decorative arts from the Cooper Hewitt design museum.\n', '

Early in her career, Mortimer worked as a beauty assistant at Vogue and an event planner for Harrison & Shriftman. Mortimer has a line of handbags and clothing in Japan for Samantha Thavasa, for which she was featured in an advertising campaign. She also features prominently in Samantha Thavasa USA\'s online promotional materials and in the company\'s Madison Avenue store, which also carries her handbags. She subsequently formed her own clothing line, Riccime by Tinsley Mortimer, which was sold exclusively in Japan. In 2008, Mortimer became involved in branding and design for a condominium development. \n', '

Mortimer has served as Christian Dior’s beauty ambassador and helped to create a lip gloss called "Tinsley Pink". She has appeared in several magazine editorials, including Vogue, WWD, Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire. In May 2012, she appeared on the cover of Vestal magazine, which also featured an editorial styled by Lo\'renzo Hill-White and shot by fashion photographer Kevin Sinclair. She has also graced the magazine covers of Page Six Magazine, Virginia Living, Avenue, CVLUX, Maniac, and New York.\n', '

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