At 19, Gabrielle Melchionda was making lip balm in her mother’s kitchen and giving it to friends to try. Their encouragement led her to launch Mad Gab’s Lip Lube, which later sold on QVC and supplied L.L.Bean, Nordstrom and Anthropologie. After years of putting her children ahead of faster expansion, Melchionda is now aiming to grow the company: Mad Gab’s expects to double in size this year.
Her path was not a conventional push for rapid growth. Melchionda chose not to raise money or make expansion her top priority, balancing the business against the demands of raising a family and managing costs. She decided to pursue more ambitious growth only after her divorce.
From kitchen batches to major retailers
Melchionda was studying anthropology and had no plans to start a business. She followed a recipe to make lip balm in her mother’s kitchen, using beeswax from a neighbor. At first, she saw the project as an experiment, not a company.
She began filling Mad Gab’s Lip Lube by hand and built display stands from wood sourced from a casket maker. With products in her car, she used phone books and maps to contact natural-food stores. As interest and orders grew, the business reached larger sales channels.
In 1997, Melchionda appeared on QVC, then a popular home-shopping program, and the product sold out. L.L.Bean, Nordstrom and Anthropologie later became customers. She also sent 80 marketing emails and secured coverage in Vogue, Elle and Seventeen. For a small business that began at home, those channels widened its reach and brought new operational demands.
Growth takes a back seat to parenting
After the birth of her first son, Silas, Melchionda tried to manage work and parenting at the same time. Just hours after giving birth, she took a call about a problem with packaging jars. The office also gained a playpen and a changing table.
She later took advice from an older woman that changed how she approached work and family: balance is not something working mothers can achieve every day. Instead, priorities have to shift with the circumstances of the moment, day or month. Melchionda decided to devote more time to her children and accept that she could not do everything at once.
She did not raise outside financing, attended only some industry trade shows and kept fixed costs in check. When her second son, Jasper, was four months old, she took him to a trade show at New York’s Javits Center, where she encountered both support and criticism. The small team included students, artists and mothers. Melchionda paid wages at a level she could afford, offered flexible schedules and let employees bring their children to work.
She left work each day to pick up her sons and did not return to business matters until the following morning. With two household incomes, she was able to put her children’s needs ahead of profit growth. Mad Gab’s grew more slowly and eventually reached a period of stagnation.
Divorce prompts a fresh look at the business
Melchionda describes that period as accepting exhaustion rather than blaming herself for not managing everything. She valued the company’s creative freedom and team culture, and saw control over her schedule as a rare advantage.
After divorcing at 41, she had to decide whether Mad Gab’s could support her and her children or whether she should close the business and find a job. With support from family, friends and mentors, she chose to build the company more seriously. By the time her sons reached high school and college, Mad Gab’s was profitable and still operating.
This year, Jasper, a recent graduate, is heading to Europe, while Silas is due to graduate from nursing school. Melchionda expects Mad Gab’s to double in size. Looking back, she values not only the company’s survival and growth but also her relationship with her sons. People sometimes assume that a mother who runs a business must always be at work. Jasper’s response is simpler: his mother was always there.