Tom Lyle Williams may have been the visionary who transformed a simple idea into an international beauty empire, but he surrounded himself with family members he trusted to help keep that empire running. His sister Mabel Williams, whose own beauty experiment inspired the Maybelline name, married Chet Hewes, who became an important part of the company’s manufacturing operations. Over the years, Mabel grew into the beloved matriarch of the family, affectionately known to younger generations as “Auntie Mabel.”
Tom Lyle’s sister Eva Williams married Ches Haines, who took responsibility for transportation and helped keep Maybelline’s expanding operation moving. Behind the glamorous advertisements, beautiful models, and famous Maybelline eyes was a remarkably close family network—each member contributing in a different way to the company Tom Lyle was building.
But the Maybelline story was never simply a business story.
It was a family saga filled with ambition, loyalty, love, jealousy, betrayal, sacrifice, and an almost relentless pursuit of beauty and perfection. As Maybelline grew from its modest beginnings into one of America’s most recognizable cosmetic names, the Williams family traveled an equally extraordinary road—from their Kentucky roots to Chicago and eventually to the glittering world of Hollywood.
In The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It, Tom Lyle Williams’s great-niece Sharrie Williams opens the doors to that private world, revealing the personalities and relationships behind the famous name. It is the story of how one family helped create a beauty empire—and how the pursuit of the American Dream transformed the family itself.
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