We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marie Pechkam. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marie below.

Marie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?

From the start of Unearth Malee, my kids have always been involved in my business. Whether it be onlookers, coming to my studio to do their homework, as I fill orders to them helping out at special events, they are present. Having family involved has been beyond rewarding, as I am able to spend time with my kids while doing something I love. Through the years they helped with small tasks, and now 12 years later, my eldest daughter is our Production Manager, my other daughter helps with our social media content, and my 7 year old son packages soap samples when he’s done with his homework. Besides from teaching the kids from a young age that not only does hard work takes discipline, but they also learned that failure is inevitable, and necessary to learn and grow. They watched through the years, the mistakes I’ve made, the successful events and creations that came through, and valued the friendships we have made with customers.

Family businesses provide a strong foundation for the heart of a community to thrive. With a strong sense of purpose, shared values, and connection through community members, family businesses can create a unique culture. This culture fosters loyalty and a sense of unity among family members, which can be a powerful force for success.

Not only do family businesses create jobs for the local community, they often become more involved and support local initiatives and sponsor events, which strengthens the local economy. Family businesses also offer a personal touch that other businesses often lack. This is because family members are often involved in the day-to-day operations of the business, which creates a sense of familiarity and trust among customers.

Having family involved in your business can be a positive experience, as long as all members are on the same page in terms of wanting to be participate. Amount of passion doesn’t necessarily have to be aligned, but shared values, goal setting, and work ethic should be prioritized to foster a positive and healthy environment for everyone. With love as an underlying force, family businesses can thrive and achieve success while working together.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Unearth Malee is a labor of love started in 2008 after my first daughter had severe allergies to every kind of soap and lotion. I started making soaps a couple of years prior, creating batches made for her (and my) sensitive skin.

I fell in love with the soapmaking aspect, working through the challenge of creating palm oil-free recipes and using herbs found in my Thai household, like makrut lime, lemongrass, galangal root, and jasmine rice. I gave a lot away, as I had surplus of soap, and my friends became happy soap addicts and willing testers. It wasn’t until they encouraged and motivated me to start a business that I had considered starting Unearth Malee. I was a stay-at-home Mom at that point, studying to get into law school, my daughters had just started kindergarten and 2nd grade, and I started UM in a portion of our garage.

After selling a few bars, I grew to love that I had this opportunity to tell people how soap is made, why certain ingredients were harmful, etc. It suddenly became an outlet to bring awareness of social and environmental issues affected by the body care industry. It fueled me to grow the business and still does.

Over 14 years later, we are still going strong, operating out of a soap studio in Claremont. Now my daughter that has the allergies is a young adult working alongside me. We make an array of organic bodycare products besides from soap, like organic deodorants, face oils, laundry detergent, herbal treatment balms, lotion bars, candles, and more.

As an Asian, Woman Owned small business, having a community of supporters continues to be one of driving factors that inspires me to keep creating and raising awareness about the devastating effects of palm oil. I love having the platform to share ingredients from a variety of Asian cultures through my creations.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

From the start of Unearth Malee in 2008 to this day, I make every single soap bar. I started making organic soaps for my daughter’s severe allergies. There were not many options to purchase soaps for sensitive skin, so I researched online and learned about a variety of oils, understanding their fatty acid content, and how to formulate a super moisturizing soap bar for sensitive skin. Palm oil was in every recipe I found online at that point, and I had learned about how the increased demand for consumption was destroying the natural habitats of orangutans and other rainforest animals. It became my goal to create a palm oil free soap recipe, and to raise awareness with every bar I made.

The downside of making all the products myself, is that there are physical limitations to what I can create. When demand is high, I have to prioritize physical production over other important business issues like customer relations or new product research. It’s challenging already to own a business, then to make all the products in the business adds it’s own layer of difficulty.

My passion has always been in the creative process, from formulating new recipes, to making soap batches daily, I am a maker hands deep in the process bar by bar. For as long as I can, I will continue to make and create, with the love and joy I had since day 1.

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

We have been seller on Etsy since 2008, and have encouraged other handmade small businesses to give them a try. Etsy has been a positive and successful platform for us, offering a community of customers and supporters.

We consider it a well established marketplace with an already built in customer base looking to support and purchase from makers. The cost to list items and seller fees are reasonable, and though Etsy has received some negative press and reviews recently about their lack of support for sellers, I believe they are listening and learning to prioritize seller issues, and provide new services that aim to help sales and customer relations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://unearthmalee.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unearthmalee/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unearthmalee
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/unearth-malee-organic-soaps-claremont-3