We caught up with the brilliant and insightful LaShanda McPeters a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, LaShanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

In 2019 I received a Facebook message from a local soap business located in Houston, Texas. Her name was Kim and she was closing her business, due to her company sales decreasing and she could no longer afford the overhead of her storefront. She explained to me that she wanted to donate all of her supplies to a local business and chose my company Lather and More.

At first I thought it was a scam because I could not believe that someone could be that selfless to give everything to a total stranger. I decided to take a chance and agreed to meet with her at a local Fry’s electronic store in north Houston. I arrived first and waited. I saw a truck pull up filled with supplies and trays. She got out and introduced herself as Kim, we shook hands and I introduced myself as LaShanda McPeters, owner of Lather and More. Her husband helped her load everything from their truck into my vehicle, thanked her and returned home.

When I unloaded everything that she gave me, I was ecstatic! She blessed my business with various essential oils, organic oils, butters, soap curing trays, and so much more. It is because of her I was able to scale my business to the next level. Kim’s kindness showed me that there are still good people out there that give without expecting anything back in return. I am forever grateful for her sacrifice.

LaShanda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is LaShanda McPeters, I am the co-owner of Lather and More located in Houston, Texas. The company was established in 2016. Before Lather and More became an official business, it started as a hobby. I used to watch soap making Youtube videos and found it fascinating that you can make soap on your own. So I had to give it a try!

I started off first making melt and pour soap, which is a soap base that you melt down, add fragrance and pour it into a silicone mold. After a while I wanted to try my hand at making soap from scratch. I found a recipe and made my first cold process soap. It accelerated horribly. I panicked and plopped it into the mold as fast as I could get it in. It was the ugliest soap I ever saw but it was the most luxurious and moisturizing soap I had ever used in my life! My daughter Jacalyn said, ” Aw, Mama it’s okay. Try again and tweak the recipe.” So, I did exactly that. I fixed what was wrong, created an even better soap product, mastered my craft, and launched Lather and More.

Our company manufactures and sells vegan bath and body products such as soaps, aluminum free deodorants, body butters, facial care, beard products and more. What sets Lather and More apart from other companies is our excellent customer service, fast shipping, and transparency. As a company we are most proud of being able to educate and share with our customers all of the toxic chemicals found in products that most major supply stores carry, and to provide them with a healthier alternative to their everyday hygiene essentials. We specialize in skincare products for sensitive skin along with being cruelty free.

Lather and More is a family owned business who truly cares for the community and what they put on their skin.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

When we first launched Lather and More I was still working a 9 to 5 job doing medical billing and coding. I would make samples of bath salts and small soap samples and staple my business card to them. My partner would then drive around Houston, TX and pass out these samples only asking people to like our social media pages in return during the day while I was at work. He would educate each and every customer on the harmful ingredients that are found in most major brand products and offer for them to try out our sample products.

We then started to vend at our local market and passed out samples there as well. More and more people began to gain awareness of our brand and started to purchase our product. Our following grew and more people began to talk about how awesome our products were. They shared with their family, friends and even co-workers lol.

It didn’t matter where we were, we would stop and give people a sample of our product and it worked to grow or customer database. To this day we still practice this same method because that is how passionate we are about our brand.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The lesson I had to unlearn was that your family and friends are not your target customer. In business it is twice as hard to convince them that your product is just as good, if not better than what they are using. The road to success can be a lonely one but, you have to stay strong and persevere.

I remember telling a family member about the harmful ingredient found in their anti-perspirant and them telling me that they are not going to take a chance and try my product because they did not want to smell like onions! Lol.. I can laugh about it now but at the time it hurt me to hear that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.latherandmore.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/LatherAndMore
• Facebook: Facebook.com/LatherAndMore
• Twitter: Twitter.com/LatherAndMore
• Youtube: Youtube.com/LatherAndMore
• Other: TikTok.com/LatherAndMore