We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shawn Swartwood a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shawn, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I’ve been retired for several years. Medically.. I can’t get around as much as I used to and I hate just sitting around doing nothing. So, what can I do? I’m limited physically do to a bad back. So I had to find something that I could work on and leave when I couldn’t do any more. Twenty years ago, I made a few soaps. I enjoyed it. So I decided to see how I felt about doing that again. So I gathered some supplies I’d need and got to work. I loved it more this time more than I did 20 years ago! Now, I create unusual soaps. My soaps are different than most others. I use a method called melt and pour. This means the actual process of combining all the ingredients together has already been done when I get it. I have a collection of over300 molds I could use. Sometimes I use more than to come up with a unique creation.
Shawn, 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?
Now I make a variety of soaps now. I also creat “bath teas” and body lotion. I have found out that I love being creative doing my own thing, working with my hands At the same time, I help raise our son as his co-mom. He is 13 and in middle school now.
I am a mother, a veteran,and retired. I’m proud of my background for its made me the person I am today.
I do my very best to create unusual soaps and other thing.. I love seeing the look on people’s face when they see some of my creations! I love it when they share with me how the used my soaps or when they gifted them to someone else.
I often give out to non-profits groups when I can. I love making others happy.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Six years ago, my family and I were involved in a bad accident. We were on a ferris wheel when the door caught up on the frame. The gondola we were in began to tilt back. We were just past the top of the rotation as it just started to come back down again. But we were still 20 feet above the ground when it dumped us out to fall to the steel deck below. I landed face first. My partner and 7 year old fell on top of me. I was critically injured. I had several broken/fractures and dislocated bones i also ha a tramatic brain injury. I would never be the same again. When I eventually started physical therapy, the therapist said it would take me years to walk again. He said by the time my son graduated from school, I should be able to walk again.
Physical therapy was very painful. But I pushed through 6 days a week of it. In three months time, I was walking with a walker, then graduated to a cane. Now, six years later, I use a walking stick once in a while. I still feel the effects of some of the injuries, but it doesn’t hold me back for long. I thank God that I’m alive!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
After our accident, I wanted so much to get back to my once very boring life. But that wasn’t going to happen. I had major mobility issues I had to work on first. Sure, I could walk again, but it was very painful! I had full use of one of my arms. I had nerve damage in the other one. The TBI I got was causing cognitive issues I wasn’t sure I’d be able to concur or not. I felt like I had dementia. At first, medications helped somewhat. Then after a while, they didn’t help anymore. The doctor took me off of them. Within a month, I started to feel more myself.
Six years after the accident, I’m still not completely over it, but I AM passed the worset of it. I am on my way!
I found that with my family beside me, my friends to help pull me along and my faith, I could do almost anything if I really wanted to. I just need to keep pushing through what is ever in my way.
Contact Info:
- Website: Shawndlitesoapery.com
- Instagram: Shawndlite
- Facebook: Shawndlite Soapery