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About Emilie

About Emilie

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

Mama was born in the kitchen of my Silverlake apartment, during my 8 year stint in Los Angeles as a film industry freelancer. Between jobs, I had a lot of extra time on my hands and the inability to sit still for long. Part borderline hippie, part aspiring entrepreneur, I ordered a bunch of natural raw ingredients, turned my kitchen into a workshop, and started experimenting. The minute I made oil and water combine, I was hooked.

THE CLEAN PLATE CLUB

I spent many of my early, magical summers with my grandparents, who lived in the country in a small town in Ohio. I raised tadpoles, grew cherry tomatoes, and picked vegetables from Johnny Allen's farm across the road. I read every Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on, and searched high and low to find a mystery to solve in the acres of their vast back yard. I took top down rides, made creatures out of pinecones and swung on the branches of the willow tree out front. I wish I could say that I spent evenings learning how to make face lotions out of oranges and avocados, because that would explain how I got here from there. But that didn't happen. What did happen was that I stretched my imagination to its limits, I developed a love for nature, and I learned to create.

YOUR MAMA DON'T DANCE

My high school career in musical theater led to college aspirations of being a news reporter. After a brief stint as a modern dance major, I started taking journalism and graphic design classes, peppered with the occasional art class. I graduated with a degree in Telecommunications, moved to Atlanta, and worked as a production coordinator on feature films. Why all the non-sequiturs? Because I guess it explains how I went from producing music videos to making body products.

WHO'S YOUR MAMA

Mama officially launched in September of 2004, and is now happily based in Atlanta, GA. It is a culmination of almost 3 years of research and development, and a life-long love of body products. A lot of people ask if my workshop is like a lab, but really, it's more like a kitchen. It is stocked full of raw ingredients like shea butter, coconut oil, herbs and essential oils, and is packed with kitchen utensils like blenders, grinders, mixers and measuring spoons. I formulate, manufacture, pour and package every batch by hand. Mama is more than just a business for me. It's a lifestyle, a way to keep myself inspired.

WHAT'S IN A NAME

A lot of people ask where the name comes from. My goal from the beginning was to create a fun, colorful brand with natural principles. So, from Mother Earth and Mother Nature came "Mama." Mama.com wasn't available (go figure), so our website is loveyourmama.com, inspired by the Love Your Mother (Earth) t-shirts that were popular in the 60s and 70s. As a result, a lot of people call our company "Love Your Mama" (and that's totally fine with us!).

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BUSINESS?

In 2022, after 20 years in business and 2 extremely difficult years of trying to stay afloat during the pandemic and all of its challenges, I made the difficult decision to close our 2 retail stores and I'm currently taking a break while figuring out what is next. You can read about all of that here and here. In the meantime, I'll be opening the website periodically with limited edition product offerings. The best way to find out about that is to sign up for our email list.

With Love and Gratitude,

Emilie