216. Behind the Highlight Reel: Living In The Greys with Mary Lawless Lee #FabulousFriends

My guest today is Mary Lawless Lee. She is a mother, writer, entrepreneur, and digital media personality dedicated to living creatively, chasing curiosity, and exploring the world through the lens of fashion, family, travel, and design. Happily Grey, her now-iconic fashion and lifestyle blog, serves as a loving space for readers to connect with Mary's life experiences, and their own, journeying together through life's highs, lows, and in betweens. But she’s not just an influencer OG. Adding a retail space and – now, a book – to her resume, she’s a perfect example of someone who seems to juggle everything at once with ease. Her new book, and this conversation, tell a different story.  Her radical honesty and grounded mindset root her in reality, and helped her escape struggles with an eating disorder, perfectionism, people pleasing, and a toxic marriage. Thank you, Mary, for spending some time with our community today.  We also cover… 00:01:40 — Turning a Passion Into a Lifestyle Growing up in east Texas and going to nursing school Working for 7 transformative years in the cardiovascular ICU Journaling as a meditation practice Paying $50 for her first blogging website Early days of HappilyGrey.com Building a community and lifestyle brand Expanding into skincare – nemah.com Side hustle status for 3.5 years Day-to-day of life as a blogger Building a team from scratch and forging her own path The importance of brand culture and collaboration Making a good (and bad) brand deal 00:18:14 — Nēmah Skincare & Happily Grey Marrying her clinical background with digital marketing and motherhood  Developing products that are authentic to you Investing in safe, clean formulas  Happily Grey by Mary Lawless Lee Life is not all black and white Finding freedom in the in-between 00:24:49 — Mary’s Personal Growth & Evolution Struggling with perfectionism and people pleasing Unpacking Mary’s experience with an eating disorder  Recovery is a never-ending journey Accountability, honesty, and giving up control  Having gratitude for your physical self Working amid the perceptions and expectations of social media  Gathering tools and building a support system Vulnerability seeds connection  Happily Grey by Mary Lawless Lee  Career and life advice for following your passions Resources: Read: shophappilygrey.com Book Tour: shophappilygrey.com/pages/mybook Nēmah Skincare: nemah.com Instagram: @marylawlesslee Website: happilygrey.com Connect with Kelly: kellyleveque.com Instagram: @bewellbykelly Facebook: www.facebook.com/bewellbykelly Be Well By Kelly is produced by Crate Media. Mentioned in this episode: BWBK Protein Powder | Get $10 off your order with PODCAST10 at bewellbykelly.com. Athletic Greens AG1 | Get 1 FREE year of Vitamin D immune support along with 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase at drinkAG1.com/BEWELL.