It was the Boob Tube, an ointment that pregnant women can use to prevent stretch marks and provide relief for itchy breasts, that really caught Bob Nielsen’s attention. On a spring night in Miami Beach, the former group president of Estée Lauder was surrounded by women—his wife and four women who had co-founded Mama Mio, a London-based startup skin-care company for new mothers. They were having dinner at the Sea View Hotel’s Terrace Room.

The Mama Mio ladies—two Americans and two Brits—pulled out an assortment of jars and bottles with names like Tummy Rub Stretch Mark Butter and Shrink to Fit Cream and urged the couple to examine the textures of the creams and inhale their scents. By the time they pulled out the Boob Tube, Nielsen was hooked.

“Only a mother and a woman—and probably a quirky Brit—could get away with calling a product Boob Tube,” laughs the 78-year-old Nielsen. 

Within a matter of weeks, Nielsen decided to invest an amount he puts in the “low seven figures” into Mama Mio. And a few weeks after that, he came out of six years of retirement to become chairman of the company, with a focus on extending Mama Mio’s U.K. successes into the U.S. market. For its part, Mama Mio gained Nielsen’s sage advice, his connections, and more.

“To have someone like him validate us with his interest and put his own hand in his own pocket—well, it was the best validation we could have had,” says co-founder Sian Sutherland.

Helping to sell products for chapped nipples is only the latest twist in Nielsen’s unlikely career in cosmetics that began in 1955. After completing a four-year stint in the U.S. Navy, the Long Island, New York, native heard that cosmetics and fragrance firm Coty was trying to distribute its makeup in drugstores in northern New Jersey. Recalling his teenage years as a soda jerk, he felt he knew a thing or two about the drugstore business and figured he could do the job. “I jumped at the opportunity because it paid $100 per week,” he says.

Five years later, Nielsen joined Estée Lauder as a salesman and worked his way up the ladder. After leaving the company twice and later returning each time, he became president of several of the company's major brands. During his 23 years at the cosmetics giant, he helped steer brands like Clinique, Prescriptives, Aramis, Tommy Hilfiger, and La Mer to big sales numbers and international prominence.