JESSICA STEDDOM
JESSICA STEDDOM
JESSICA STEDDOM
JESSICA STEDDOM
JESSICA STEDDOM
If you’re one of the roughly 2.6 million people following Mary Lawless Lee across her social media platforms, it’s easy to see why she’s one of Nashville’s most celebrated influencers.
As the founder and face of Happily Grey—an influential fashion blog turned all-encompassing brand and retail store—Lee shares her tips, tricks, and recommendations on everything from fashion to lifestyle, to travel, fitness, motherhood, and more. And now, Lee is sharing some of her most personal stories to date in an entirely new way with the release of her first book, Happily Grey: Stories, Souvenirs, and Everyday Wonders from the Life in Between.
“I am particular with what I choose to share on social media. I value that level of privacy, and I think at times social media can be toxic and it can feel very one-sided because you only see a one- dimensional view of someone’s life,” says Lee. “While I do try to depict the highs and the lows and show all aspects of it, some of these stories are so important to me and are moments of such vulnerability that I wanted it to be in writing on pages. I felt like this was the appropriate way to share them and then to open it up to conversations that I can have on social media.”
Ever since she was a child, Lee has had a passion for writing, and that passion led her to start Happily Grey 11 years ago. At the time she was working as a cardiovascular nurse in the ICU, and the blog was a creative outlet where she could rekindle her lifelong love of journaling by writing about fashion, trends, what she was wearing, and why she loved those pieces. As the social media landscape shifted and platforms like Instagram and Pinterest took off, Lee quickly realized she needed photos to accompany her words, so she started shooting her looks and creating visual content which, over time, catapulted her into influencer stardom.
As Happily Grey continued to grow and evolve online, the brand also ventured into the e-commerce and retail space with the opening of a Happily Grey brick-and-mortar shop inside Nashville’s L & L Market. Thoughtfully curated with pieces from both local and international artisans, the shop evokes a sense of discovery with every visit by offering gorgeous clothing and home decor to inspire customers to cultivate the life and style of their dreams.
But Lee didn’t stop at one business; she and her husband also founded Nēmah, a sustainable, vegan, luxury skincare collection created for mothers and their families which launched late last year. The line includes both pregnancy and postpartum products inspired by needs in the market that Lee herself found when she became a mother. Beyond the products themselves, Nēmah strives to create a sense of community and support for moms by partnering with Every Mother Counts and donating a portion of all product sales to the organization.
Having achieved so much in her life already, it’s hard to look at
Lee and see anything short of perfection. Along with her successful businesses, she lives a picturesque life here in Nashville with her husband Madison, their two adorable children, Navy and Indie, and their two (also adorable) Great Danes. Not to mention, Lee’s impeccable style and beauty (inside and out) is just as radiant in person as it is in her photos.
But for Lee it’s actually all of the imperfect moments that led her to the life she has today, and she could not be more grateful for them. It’s the grey areas that she revels in: those times of uncertainty where she feels the most creative and free. Those are the "happily grey" moments, as Lee lovingly describes them. And with the release of her book of the same name, she opens up about the most vulnerable and transformative of those experiences.
Made up of 12 short stories spanning Lee’s childhood through adulthood, Happily Grey is comprised of lessons learned through those experiences. She details how growing up in small town Texas taught her to live life to the fullest, to find joy in the seemingly small things, and to never lose that childlike sense of curiosity and discovery. As she takes readers on a journey through some of the most formative moments in her life, Lee also encourages them to revisit that childlike wonder often lost in adulthood.
“I had a lot of ideas for this book and where I landed was half memoir, half coffee table book. I wanted there to be design elements that felt inspiring, but I also wanted it to be very heartfelt and very intimate. Before I even started writing this book, I knew some of the stories that I was going to tell, because a lot of these harder chapters that I talk about are the reasons why I am who I am. Those moments have shaped me.”
Despite the flood of emotions that came with writing this book, Lee feels nothing but gratitude for the entire process. For her, the primary motivator to share these stories was always to inspire a sense of community, connection, and comfort for anyone going through similar experiences.
“The reason I chose to share some of these harder stories is because I needed that in those moments. Some of the biggest, most pivotal moments for me in those stories were the other women that opened up, shared, and were there to support,” Lee says. “I hope women read this and feel seen, heard, and understood. Some of these experiences can be so isolating and a lot of women have been through [them], so I hope that through these processes they don’t feel alone. I hope this opens doors for more conversations.”
With every anecdote, she shares the things she loves that accompanied her during each experience. From customized playlists to the perfect margarita recipe, to DIY Daisy Dukes, Texas hair, travel tips, fashion, motherhood must-haves, and so much more, Lee paints a holistic picture of her life that’s as playful as it is personal, and as vibrant as it is vulnerable.
“That’s how I live my life, and that is life. Life is highs and lows; life is the harder topics, the heavier topics, but then it’s intermixed with those moments of laughing at yourself. I wanted it to feel intimate, heavy, truthful, and honest, but also sarcastic and witty because that’s who I am and that’s the life that I try to live."
Because, as Lee knows firsthand, it’s the imperfect, uncertain, happily grey moments that make life worth living.