How long have you been part of this community, and what made you put down roots here?

I grew up in Boulder, CO - since 1970.  I bought my first house in Old Town Superior.  My husband works for NREL, and I was working from home, so we moved to Golden to be closer to his office.  I had started making soap while in Superior, but did not officially start the business and start selling my soaps until we had moved to Golden.  Sadly our old house was lost in the Marshall Fire, but we have been so happy living in Golden.  We love it here, so much.  Such a nice community, and the view, well, it just can’t be beat.

Where do you hope to see this community in 10 to 20 years?

Negative - I am becoming a crotchety old lady (haha!), but Golden has such beautiful homes, older homes, with so much history, so many memories, and it makes me sad to see those buildings torn down and replaced with multi-family housing.  It’s wasteful, and unnecessary.  My hope is that we start to embrace this history again, and keeping our sense of community strong.  I fear it will be lost, if the growth and focus on new housing, continue.

Positive - I was recently having tea at Humble House with a friend, and in the course of a chai, I saw 5-6 friends/acquaintances (Sara was one of them!).  The folks I was with kept commenting - “do you know everyone in Golden”?  That feels like home and community to me. People supporting people, friendships, neighborhood communities, etc. I would love to see that sense of community/family continue to grow.

When you think about what makes Golden truly special — not just pretty, but meaningful — what comes to mind?

I think about my neighborhood.  We are close.  Everyone is always looking out for each other.  When someone needs help, we help each other.  We have happy hours together, and pig roasts (time to schedule another one), and just check on each other.  It is beautiful to know that people are watching out for each other.

I also think about friends, like Lynn Conrad from Baby Does, who has supported us since the very beginning.  She has helped us grow, and have a local exposure, that would have been hard to achieve in the early years.

I think about businesses supporting each other through some crazy, crazy times (pandemics, for example) - like Woody’s, Abejas, Nosu, Mountain Toad, Gold Mine, that stand by each other and support each other through the best and worst of times.  

Most people know your soaps, but what's something even your regulars might not know about what goes on behind the scenes?  ‍  ‍

That is a big question.  I hope that our regulars know how hard we try to do the right thing, and be a business as a force for good.  We use renewable energy to power our manufacturing facility.  We use fair-trade and sustainable, plant-based ingredients.  We are working on moving to using regeneratively farmed raw materials.  We try to use home compostable packaging, whenever we can.  When we can’t, we find the thing most recyclable.

I could go on about this for hours, but the Beauty and Personal Care industry generates a staggering 120 billion units of plastic packaging per year.  Only about 9% of that gets recycled, and about 12 tons land in our oceans every year.  There are microplastics in our dirt, in our water, in our blood streams and in our brains.  There are endocrine disrupters in plastics that are seriously impacting hormone development.  The biggest problem is that they never go away.  They just break down smaller and smaller, and continue to infiltrate our everyday lives, and our health.  

We are trying so hard every day to eliminate that plastic usage in our packaging.  We must change.  We must do the right thing.  Spinster Sisters Co and Old Salt Grooming Supply are trying to use business as a force for good.  Better for people, better for the planet.

What goes into your soaps that sets them apart?

All plant-based ingredients.  Fair-trade and sustainable ingredients.  A strong impact mission.  Lots of love.

Where can Golden locals (and visitors!) get their hands on your products?

Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, and at our favorite downtown store, Baby Does.

Has your work/business earned any recognition or awards? What has meant the most to you?  

It has - Whole Foods Local Supplier of the Year, 3 Nexty Awards (most people won’t know what this is), Golden Sustainability Award, Most Eco-Conscious Brand at one of our trade shows.  It’s great to see awards supporting and elevating brands and businesses that are trying to do the right thing.  We love receiving them, but it is not why we do what we do.  But, can’t lie, it does feel good to get the recognition.

What was your experience like working with Golden Community Foundation for your loan, and would you encourage another Golden small business owner to go through the process?

It was absolutely amazing.  Seamless.  Easy.  It’s very new, but I really feel the support of the Golden Community Foundation behind us, wanting us to succeed.  I am very, very, very grateful.  The whole team is so amazing, and I gave them a super tough timeline to work in, and somehow they made it happen.  

Looking back, what did that loan unlock for you that you simply couldn't have made happen on your own?

Equipment purchases.  We have started doing private label manufacturing, and recently won a business award from a national grocery retailer.  We could have found a way to make it work, but getting this equipment will certainly make it much, much easier to do.  It will also allow us to start manufacturing for more emerging brands and retailers as well.  Every new account we get, we can help their manufacturing practices become more sustainable, which ultimately helps our environment.  It has changed the trajectory of my business, and I hope I can pay it forward in the future.