Mary Lawless Lee knows a thing or two about fresh starts. In 2012, the former ICU nurse launched her lifestyle blog, Happily Grey, a creative outlet that ultimately launched her career as one of the internet’s early influencers. Since becoming a mom—Lee has three children under six—she pivoted again, turning her prose to the realities of motherhood. In 2021, Lee started yet another new chapter: founding Nēmah, a premium skincare brand for new moms and their newborn babies. Lee, who has undergone three C-sections, launched the brand with a scar cream, a stretch mark cream and a nipple balm to ease breastfeeding.
“When it comes to perinatal skincare, you can count on two hands the actual products that treat that stage of motherhood,” said Madison Lee, Mary’s husband and Nēmah’s CEO and co-founder.
The couple originally launched Nēmah exclusively direct-to-consumer, relying on Mary’s platform and 1M+ Instagram followers to promote and market the brand. But soon, they noticed more premium brands turning to Amazon to increase sales.
“There were a lot of great products we started to see selling in the Amazon store, and we realized it was just a missed opportunity if we weren’t doing the same.”
Within a year of being on Amazon, Nēmah was bringing in over $140,000 in Amazon sales—nearly 25% of the company’s total revenue. Since then, sales have grown nearly 100% year-over-year.
“From the start, Amazon has been a vital tool for our growth,” said Madison.
Nēmah has grown in part out of Mary’s online community, and the connection and conversations she has with her followers. As such, ensuring a positive customer experience has been paramount for the Lees, something they’ve been able to maintain with Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA), which provides customers free two-day shipping through Prime while handling returns and customer service.
“No question, Fulfillment By Amazon has been great for our customers, and really allows them to depend on us,” said Madison. Amazon Subscribe & Save has been another driver of growth for the brand, providing a stream of recurring revenue that they can depend on.
Madison said he also values how Amazon A+ Content allows Nēmah to share their brand values through videos and interactive content.
“As a brand, we want to provide moms with products, community and resources around what they’re going through physically, emotionally and mentally,” he said, adding that A+ Content helps them do just that.
The Lees see Nēmah’s future as an omnichannel brand, thriving on Amazon, Shopify, and their own direct-to-consumer site—while expanding into major retailers. Their success on Amazon has already helped open doors, giving them credibility in early retail conversations.
“Retailers want to see proof of demand, and our Amazon performance gives us that,” said Madison.
While running Nēmah has been all-consuming, the Lees hope their efforts will pay off in the long run.
“Since starting Nēmah, we’ve been busier than ever,” Madison said. “But the goal is to build something that will make our business self-sustaining—something that grows beyond us.”