From
those early conversations, a seed was planted. She brought the people, personalities, triumphs, and heartbreaks of our family history to life for me. After her untimely death, I became determined to finish the story she had begun.
Sharrie Williams, Bill Williams, Tom Lyle Williams, Billed Williams, Pauline Williams, Donna Williams, Evelyn Williams/Miss Maybelline
those early conversations, a seed was planted. She brought the people, personalities, triumphs, and heartbreaks of our family history to life for me. After her untimely death, I became determined to finish the story she had begun.
I knew that if I didn’t preserve it, much of that history could eventually be lost—and that would be a tragedy. The Maybelline story is more than the history of a cosmetics company. It is a thread woven into the fabric of the American Dream and an important chapter in the golden age of Hollywood glamour.
Most of all, I wanted my great-uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, founder of the Maybelline Company, to be remembered. His vision, determination, and extraordinary understanding of women helped transform the cosmetics industry and the way beauty was marketed to generations of American women. I wanted people to know the man behind the Maybelline name—and to understand the remarkable legacy he left behind.
