We recently connected with Ashlee Rose and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ashlee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Back in late 2015, I was 20 and didn’t have a job. Somehow I ended up watching soap making videos and it seemed like something fun to do. My dad had also been watching soap videos. We both had no idea we both were thinking the same until I mentioned it. He then bought me a basic soap making kit. I had a lot of fun making my own soaps and customizing it with different colors and scents. I ended up giving some away as Christmas gifts to my friends and family. Everyone loved it and told me I should start a business and that they’d buy from me. I weighed on that idea for awhile, wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in life. I had another small business a couple years before making jewelry and it didn’t go very far. Friends and family supported me but no sales online, eventually I stopped. I didn’t want the same thing to happen again. Having anxiety, it felt overwhelming. My dad encouraged me to start and helped me with everything in the beginning. I was so glad to have his support since some people around me thought it was just a hobby and told me to get a “real job”. I wasn’t really being taken seriously. The business was put on a short pause in early 2016 when I randomly got sick from a mystery illness. I was constantly dizzy and off balanced, doctors couldn’t pin point exactly what caused it. It was hard to function. I saw countless of doctors and went through so many tests. My dad too had to undergo surgery around that same time. Thankfully we both got better. For myself, I still struggle doing certain things due to my chronic illnesses. A lot of the time I felt defeated that I couldn’t get my business where I wanted it to be, my illnesses and pain were stopping me from working. In 2019 things were put on a pause again due to my endometriosis and undergoing surgery for it. The recovery was rough since I had some complications after. It took me 3 months to feel like myself again. I’ve learned to do things when I can and to allow myself to take breaks. Sometimes I can push through the pain and other times I reach my limit and stop for the day.  I still pushed on when I could. I couldn’t get a “real job” so that motivated me to keep at it and hoped one day this would work out. My therapist as well kept encouraging me to keep going, she could see it getting successful. When the pandemic hit, I had a huge increase in sales, that’s when I felt hopeful that it was starting to take off. I had made hand sanitizers when people couldn’t find them anywhere. I was happy to help out my local community as well as people in other states. My dad ended up getting too busy so from that point on, it’s been all me. It’s a lot of work but I enjoy what I do. I love being creative and making people happy with my products.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Ashlee, I’m 27 and I live on the beautiful island of Maui in Hawai’i. My main purpose of Soaps By Ashlee Rose is to make soaps that are moisturizing yet made with simple ingredients that you can recognize on the ingredients list. My soaps are palm oil free. I use ethically sourced micas and the fragrances have no harsh chemicals. I also make an unscented soap which is great for people with very sensitive skin. I have made fandom inspired soaps which has been really fun. Paola Lazaro from The Walking Dead has some of my Princess Soaps. Hearing how much she loved it, was amazing. My candles are made with soy wax and sometimes a mixture with beeswax. Which makes a clean burning. My beeswax lip balms are one of my best sellers. Especially my Ube lip balm. Ube is a popular flavor used in a lot of desserts here in Hawai’i and Asian cultures. Basic simple ingredients yet really moisturizing. They are gluten free as well. I didn’t know about gluten being in lip balms until one of my friends had asked me if mine had it since she’s allergic. I’m always listening to my customer’s suggestions and try my best to accommodate them. I want my brand to be inclusive. I have recently added body lotions and gift sets and that’s been doing well.

I’m also very passionate about cats, as I have 7 of them. All of them are rescues. When my first cat Blacky who was 19, passed away in 2021, I was heartbroken. I wanted to somehow honor her. Last year for my birthday I released a “Blacky Soap” which was tortie colored, had a nose, ears, and a halo. I had donated $5 of each soap sold to Maui’s first cat cafe who just opened a month before. I was able to raise over $200 for them which helps cats get ready for adoption and find their furrever home.

Every pride month, I release my pride collection. Rainbow soaps and candles as well as other flag colors. Being an Asian lesbian, I feel like it’s important to represent that. Inspire others who may feel like they can’t be themselves. I donate 10% of each sale to my local LGBTQ+ organization. I love supporting my local community when I can, it makes me feel happy to help others.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Social Media. Before I started my business, I had an already small audience from doing youtube videos. I started with that and was able to gain a few customers from that and maintain some returning ones. I have collabed with some other youtubers in helping promote my soaps especially the fandom inspired one. I think reaching out to people in your niche helps a lot. As the years have passed I’ve noticed TikTok, Instagram reels and Pinterest has been a huge help with exposure. The thing I learned is you have to be consistent for it to work. Not everyone can have a viral video in one day. Posting a few times on my social media platforms 1-3 times a day has really helped my business grow.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I have a site on Shopify (www.soapsbyashleerose.com) I didn’t start out this way. I first started with Etsy which was amazing, I had learned a lot about owning a business from there. They had raised the fees and I started losing more money than earning, so I made the hard decision to leave. Which had its pros and cons. The good thing about Etsy is that they made it easy to list items and basically advertise for you on the platform. The bad thing was all of the fees and taking 30% of each sale. I was nervous I would lose customers but thankfully a lot of them followed. I had then made a Big Cartel, I was on there for less than a year. I left because it was really hard to get customers. Paying $10 a month and 1 or no orders for months, wasn’t good. I don’t have anything bad to say. I think it just wasn’t for me. I recently joined Shopify which has been the best. Everything is customizable and I love that I can connect my Shopify to different sites such as my Youtube, the Shop App and many others. They help with advertising your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.soapsbyashleerose.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/soapsbyashleerose
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soapsbyashleerose/
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/soapsbyashlee
• Other: Tik tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@soapsbyashleerose Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/soapsbyashleerose/