We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melina Beatriz Bracamonte a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Melina Beatriz, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

In 2020 when COVID was at its height I was working in the Aviation Industry. Even with the government bailouts aviation hit an all-time low with travel restrictions and importing goods. Work came to a standstill, and I soon found myself at home in quarantine like most people. Stores everywhere had become low on many everyday items and like most people we were all trying to maintain clean sanitary households. My family has practiced traditional plant knowledge for many generations. The idea of creating soaps and household cleaners to keep my family safe threaded with the knowledge I already held. Thus, the process of soap making began with the research of its history and origins and todays modernized methods. I found ways to create and incorporate natural plants with specific traditionally acknowledged properties into my soaps and the concept evolved from there. My family members each have their own creative processes and talents as well. Each one of them has played a part in the journey I am on, and I am thankful, grateful and appreciative for each of them. Together we have worked to expand our lines, brands and products. Balancing, between being ourselves as individual creators and maintaining a united front. Always honoring the different strengths, we bring to our businesses. Key factors for us as makers have been, to create products that are effective, sustainable, natural, environmentally friendly and honor our Indigenous heritage.  As Native people we bring forth our natural artistic creativity into ordinary items and turn them into small pieces of art.

Melina Beatriz, 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?

I am of Hiaki Yoeme decent both on my mothers and father’s side. Learning about plants and their medicinal properties has been a part of mine and my sibling’s life since we were kids. Our family has always grown gardens food and medicines to supplement and feed us and we learned to gather and harvest other wild growing plants for their food and medicinal properties. Incorporating and applying that knowledge has always been and will continue to be a way of life for us and our decedents. We are knowledge keepers, as our ancestors were. There is a responsible to pass that onto our children and to their children and so on. Key holders of past to present and into future, as it has always been.

My sister Angela creates body scrubs and lotions (IG- @bodyandsol.az) alongside my various artisanal soaps and candles. Together we are proud to make and to have created various body products that connect people back into nature and our home here in the Sonoran Desert. It is import to us that our clients can experience a variety of products and know that they are all safe, natural, sustainable, and ethically sourced. The more people become aware of the adverse effects of unnatural chemicals and ingredients and residues in mainstream products, the more important it is for them to be able to find options that support wellness. 

We are also extremely proud to say that our mother and son/nephew have not only become a part of the journey but have been able to begin their own journeys of creating and selling their work. Anyone who knows us knows that where you find one, you’ll find us all. You can follow and support them on IG at @sacredfire_creations (our mom) for one of a kind contemporary-traditional jewelry and @spirit_of_cukson (Angela’s son) for unique Indigenous art pieces that incorporate his traditional Yaqui and Tohono O’odham roots. 

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The growing of our clientele has many supportive factors, first and foremost would be having a very supportive network of family, friends and community. We have had the pleasure of participated in local markets, pop-ups, community events and Tribal ones as well. With these mentioned opportunities we have always been pleased to be surrounded by wonderful people of all walks of life who come to support local artists, creators and entrepreneurs. As well as Native owned, women owned, veteran owned and double spirited owned businesses, whose goals are to bring focus, support and resources to these marginalized groups & communities through inclusivity, sharing, resources and more importantly to stimulate revenue for these families, artist, creators and makers in our communities. At these events we have the amazing ability to talk one on one, face to face with people and to really tailor their experience(s) with us and explain who we are, what our business is and what makes our products different than the rest. Especially in an industry that is so saturated. What makes these interactions even more valuable is we create this sort of safe space, in essence, for our clients to share stories about themselves, their experiences and what they love about our products.

What we have found through meeting all of these wonderful people from all walks of life is that we share one thing in common, the desire to return to natural sustainable products that are healthier for people overall. When you create not only products of value but also a valuable space, people talk and share with each other and we think that’s one thing people forget, is the power of word of mouth. 

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

As our business has grown it’s hard to say that there is one source that is the “best” or better than the rest. It’s honestly a collaboration of sources and the people behind them that really make them work. But if we had to pick one we would have to say that our clients/ customers sharing with their loved ones how much they loved this or loved that is the most powerful one. Of course, a very important one in second place is social media because through social media we can reach people around the world outside of our beautiful community that we may have never been able to reach otherwise. The power lie in the people and the key factor has always been communication. We appreciate everyone who has been, is and will be a part of our journey. Thank you.   

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flowingwaterssoap.com
• Instagrams: @flowingwaterssoap , @bodyandsol.az , @sacredfire_creations , @spirit_of_cukson  
• Facebook: flowingwaterssoap

Image Credits
Angela B. Bracamonte and Melina B. Bracamonte