Laura & Mary

Meet Laura & Mary! Best friends, Women, Daughters, Sisters, Wives, Mothers, Business Owners & Multi-taskers

Their Story: 

We started Emerson & Oliver with the word Dia, Greek for “through” forefront in our minds. At that point we had known each other for 20 years, we were both married, and each had one child. We had often been asked about our friendship, "You are like sisters! How did you meet? How long have you known each other?" And then we started to get... "Isn't it risky going into business with your best friend?" and we couldn’t help but think, we have been THROUGH so much together.

As grown women, wives, mothers and business owners, we have a profound love & respect for one another, and perhaps a codependency that began as children and has continued to adulthood.

We met in January of 1991. Mary's father died of Leukemia just 5 months after and we became instant members of each other's families. We were permanent fixtures in each other's houses, on holidays and family vacations from that day forward.

Through middle school, high school, and college we were inseparable. Rebellious phases, good and bad boyfriends, roommates and other friends all came and went. We went through it all together.

On December 26, 2002 the world stopped again. Mary's stepfather, whom we both had spent our teen years & our college years with, died of cancer. Although we were no longer children and were in relationships with the men who would become our husbands, we clung to each other. It was deja vu.

We pressed on through our post college lives, big life moves, careers and living in different countries. Plane tickets, road trips and internet cafes were important parts of those years! Boyfriends became husbands (Mary spent her honeymoon at Laura’s wedding!) and then the children followed. And we thought, “hey, we don’t live in the same country; Laura is pregnant; we should totally start a business together.” Because who else would we do it with!?!

So we did. Laura moved back to Rochester with another baby in tow. We started a website and opened a brick and mortar shop all while Mary was pregnant again! We expanded our line, started wholesaling and going to trade shows, and gained momentum as business owners.

On July 17, 2014 our world was once again rocked by loss; this time it was Laura’s father. We were now wives, mothers, & “successful” business partners... but we had been reduced to children yet again. Without a moment's hesitation, Mary took the reins and took care of things... because that's what we do. We are sisters. We have been bonded for life by death.

We know owning a business together is hard. Maintaining friendship is hard. Running a company is hard. And when we reflect back on our friendship and what we have been “through” together - we know that we can survive it.

We now run our company from opposite ends of the country - Laura in California and Mary in New York. We talk everyday and push the other to live her best life and be her truest self. Through our friendship and experiences we have a connection like no other. We now have a platform with Emerson & Oliver to empower women, employ women and praise women.

The quote we chose to represent our Dia bracelets is: “Soft and strong is a combination very few have mastered”.

Through this campaign we hope to inspire women to take a look at themselves and say...

I am soft AND strong 💪🏽 because of what I have been THROUGH.

Inspired by Laura & Mary's story? Check out their favorite sets here.