Hi! I’m Melissa.
I’m a communications strategist by trade, a maker of legendary salad dressing by passion, and a solo mom by design. Life has rarely gone according to plan. And somehow that’s turned out to be the best thing.
I didn’t set out to build a brand. I saw an opening to be creative, to connect, and to turn my own experience into something that could light up someone else’s. Here’s how it started:
I’d just come back from maternity leave, solo mom, new baby, figuring it all out, when COVID hit and took my job with it.
Suddenly I was home. Unemployed. With a sassy shi-poo, a toddler, a lot of love, and absolutely nowhere to put my creative energy.
So I did what any sleep-deprived new mom would do: I took my savings, trusted my gut, and built something.
The milestone cards came first.
I had no parents of my own to call when my son did something extraordinary and in those early months, everything is extraordinary. The first gassy smile. The first all-nighter. The first turd in the tub (it’s a when, not an if and there’s a card for it).
I needed a way to bring my village into our world. So I snapped photos. Posted them. And suddenly everyone was there, laughing, crying, showing up for every single milestone from wherever they were in the world. We weren’t alone anymore.
And then came the book.
My son came into this world through donor conception. And when I looked for a children’s book that told a story like ours, a story that looked like our life, our community, our people, I couldn’t find one that felt right.
The ones that existed were sweet. But they were also, let’s just say, not exactly representative. Spoiler: the doctors in our story weren’t all caucasian men. Our community is beautifully diverse, wildly accepting, and full of families that look nothing like the ones in most picture books and everything like love.
So I wrote one.
Mimi, the Solo Magician Mom, and Cameron, is the book I needed when I was explaining our story to my son. It’s the book I hope every donor-conceived child finds on their shelf. It’s honest, warm, funny, and it looks like us. There’s a sequel to come that I’m excited to launch in 2026!
Here’s what I know to be true after all of it, the mat leave, the pandemic, the savings, the sleepless nights, the creative fires that refused to go out:
So I wrote onee after all of it — the mat leave, the pandemic, the savings, the sleepless nights, the creative fires that refused to go out:
Every child has the purest soul. Every family deserves to be celebrated. And every first deserves a witness. 💛
— Melissa, founder of Bebe Milestones
