ROOTS
MEET AND GREET
NAME: Danielle Melton KNOWN AS: Founder of Boss Mom Crew, an online community of moms who are professionals and/or entrepreneurs. She also is an adoptive and foster mom, as well as the director of a local Head Start program. Bossmomcrew.com has a members-only online business directory and hosts business-related masterclasses and virtual networking events. Laura Lemon, right, founded Lemon Laine, a skin care/beauty/wellness company featuring over 100 lines of all-natural products with stores in Nashville (pictured) and Houston.
Tulsa native creates concierge-style beauty and wellness stores. BY BRIA BOLTON MOORE
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aura Lemon’s entrepreneurial journey can be traced back to Cascia Hall’s middle school hallways, where she sold homemade lip balms to friends. After graduating high school in 2004, Lemon went to the University of Kansas, earning her bachelor’s degree in 2008. Now 35, Lemon has always been interested in the beauty industry (her fi rst job was as a makeup artist at Saks Fifth Avenue in Utica Square), but her commitment to natural beauty began when she was on the Walmart headquarters beauty buying team from 2008-2009 and launched natural beauty products in about 2,000 stores. “It wasn’t until working at Walmart that I learned about natural beauty and the importance of clean ingredients in our skincare,” Lemon says. “I really couldn’t unlearn the information, and I knew if I stayed in the beauty industry, I wanted to be in the natural industry.” Lemon worked for walmart.com until 2011, followed by beauty brands in San Francisco. In 2016 she moved to Nashville. Within six months she opened Lemon Laine, a natural
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beauty and wellness shop; she opened a Houston location in 2018. The colorful stores specialize in providing personalized recommendations for beauty and wellness — products ranging from concealer to collagen creamer — and feature an oil bar where custom facial oils are blended on the spot. “Having been in the beauty industry for so long, I just felt like there was a missing piece in the retail experience,” Lemon says. “I wanted it to not be overwhelming but fun and approachable and friendly, and also to curate an assortment that’s good for you.” When the COVID-19 pandemic kept people from brick-and-mortar shopping, Lemon launched Club Lemon Laine, an annual membership that offers unlimited virtual and inperson consultations, as well as exclusive access to the online shop. In addition to makeup and skincare, Lemon Laine carries wellness options like supplements, protein powder and CBD products. “If you don’t feel good, you’re not going to look good,” Lemon says. TP
Why do you think Boss Mom Crew has grown so quickly, to a community of over 8,000 members across the country? I think a lot of it has to do with COVID. Not only are there a lot of moms that feel lonely in their journey and motherhood, but now we’re coordinating our kids, now we’re working from home and we can’t leave for connection. So I think it was a lot of word of mouth because it’s like, “OK, now this is mommy time, and I can do it virtually.” I don’t have to leave, and a lot of times we can’t leave with the pandemic. Is there a deeper meaning for you? I’m just thankful, as an African American woman, for being able to create a space for all moms with different backgrounds, different beliefs, different ethnicities to come together — especially right now with the racial divide and political divide. I am doing my part. And it makes me feel good that I’m bringing all these different people together with the one thing we have in common, which is being a mom and looking for community and uplifting each other. — MORGAN PHILLIPS
For more on Boss Mom Crew, scan this QR code with your smartphone camera.
ROOTS: CAROLINE SHARPNACK; MEET AND GREET: KENDALL MEHTA
SERUMS TO SUPERFOODS