A lip balm recipe became a business that grew with its founder’s family

Melchionda began by making Mad Gab’s Lip Lube by hand, using scavenged wood from a coffin factory for displays and selling to natural food stores from her car. She used the Yellow Pages and maps to find customers. In 1997, she appeared on QVC and sold out. L.L.Bean, Nordstrom and Anthropologie became customers, while a mailing of 80 envelopes brought coverage in Vogue, Elle and Seventeen.

The company’s growth collided with family life. A few hours after giving birth to her first son, Silas, Melchionda was on the phone with a tin supplier about a packaging problem. She later brought her second son, Jasper, to a trade show at the Javits Center when he was four months old. Still, she chose to keep the company small: she did not raise capital, limited trade shows and kept overhead low. Her staff included students, artists and mothers, with flexible schedules and children welcome at work.

As a dual-income household, Melchionda said she could put her children ahead of business growth. Mad Gab’s expansion slowed and plateaued, but she valued the creative work and community it offered. After divorcing at 41, she reconsidered whether the company could support her family or whether she should find a job. With help from family, friends and mentors, she committed to growing Mad Gab’s more seriously. By the time her sons were in high school and college, the business was profitable and thriving.

Melchionda says the company is set to double in size this year. Jasper has recently graduated and left for Europe, while Silas is due to graduate from nursing school. She says she is proud both of keeping the business alive and of her relationship with her sons. When someone assumed she had been at work throughout their childhood, Jasper replied: “No way, Mom was always there.”