New Hampshire

In 2020, Laura Lady faced a pandemic problem: mountains of leftover cooking oil from the communal farmhouse in New Hampshire that her family shared with several other families. It couldn’t go down the drain or sit in landfills. The former toy industry marketer taught herself chemistry and created FryAway, a sustainable cooking oil solidifier. Launching on Amazon in August 2021, FryAway is now a family operation with seven products in the Amazon store, presence across five international Amazon stores, and shelf space in 4,000+ Walmart stores nationwide. By embracing Amazon seller tools like Brand Tailored Promotions, Creator Connections, Subscribe & Save, and Amazon Ads, Lady built reliable revenue streams and expanded internationally.

There’s a theme at Badger’s headquarters in rural Gilsum, New Hampshire, and it’s quality and legacy. There’s no exit strategy present, no short-term definition of success. Every decision is based on what will be best for the next generation, for the community, the company and their 85 employees.

That hasn’t changed now that the second generation is leading the company. If you ask co-CEO Rebecca Hamilton, who runs the company with her sister, Emily Schwerin-Whyte, they’re doubling down on their roots in a 100-year bet that they’ll be number-one in a whole new category of skin care.

And if they’re successful, they know exactly where to direct the spike in customer orders: Amazon.