We recently connected with Shundea Allen and have shared our conversation below.

Shundea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

I create a number of products for people with allergies and irritant sensitivities. Although we can’t make claims that a soap has medicinal properties or can cure an ailment, most people have learned what they need in their personal products from a medical professional and I provide basic skin care with a personal touch.

Someone that requires an unscented soap without colorants doesn’t have many mass market options. They may find 3 or 4 soaps in a drugstore but they have no control over the ingredients. It’s my pleasure to provide someone that loves shea butter and argan oil a soap that caters to their preference and their needs.

Shundea, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I come from a family of crafters. I grew up watching my Big Mama and aunts crochet and sew amazing things, but that gift skipped me. Sewing machines come to my house to die and if collecting yarn was a viable craft, I’d be rich.

I found myself wanting to create pretty things too, so I started paper crafting. I was already in love with stationery so making gift cards and decorating notebooks was a good outlet for my creativity. Then I decided to make a personal gift for a friend that loved bath and spa products to match the cute birthday card I had made. It was a simple sugar scrub from a random blog recipe. That was the spark, but I didn’t really think of it as a business opportunity.

Now fast forward almost 20 years to 2019 and I’m trying to soothe my daughter’s skin irritation from the bubble bath she loves so much. I start label reading and realize that I’m spending $20 for 5 pouches of milk powder and ground oatmeal. A little research, some trial and error, and 25 baths later, I had a milk bath that dissolved fully and smelled amazing. I shared it with a few people with small children that usually use the high end stuff I was using and they loved it. Then I told my planner friends and my book club (it’s almost the exact same group of people) that I was fiddling with making soap. They were ALL IN from day one. They bought up the test soap before I could get it to my test group.

I’m constantly studying this craft. It’s easy to get sidetracked by the trends, but people will always need soap and they will always want to smell good. I’ve expanded my product line over the past two years but my main focus will always be to provide quality bar soap. I want my customers to trust me with their skin like they trust their stylist with their hair.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In June of 2021, my husband was hospitalized for three weeks. We had just learned that our lives were changing for the long term and major adjustments were coming for our finances and just the general way we existed as a family… AND I had just made the decision to start widely advertising my soap business. I had supplies en route and had committed to a Christmas craft fair. I thought I was going to lose my whole mind and fellowship with Jesus.

I accepted a few custom orders from July to September to keep my business active and to have some new content for social media, but I was so raggedy behind the scenes. I wanted to just go sit in my car and cry every day. Instead I went to my full time job, helped my kids through virtual learning, and replaced my soap studying with research for renal patient care. By August, my husband was back at work and on me about letting my business lag. Every other day he’d ask, “Are you ready for December?” I’m waving around doctor referrals and FMLA forms looking at him like, “Are you serious right now?”. I think we had 14 different doctor appointments and hospital visits between July and November. I was everything but calm and collected but by Thanksgiving weekend I had enough inventory for the Christmas craft fair that was the following week and my husband was two weeks post-op and recovering like a champ.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Mulberry and Dogwood Soap Co is not my original company name. I had a trademark issue with my initial name that wouldn’t have allowed me to do business outside of Texas. Since I had to change my name, I decided to revamp my product line to align better with my what I wanted my business to reflect. I slowly removed all pre-made bases from my products and learned to make foaming soap and lotion from scratch.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mulberrydogwood.com
• Instagram: Instragram.com/mulberrydogwood
• Facebook: Facebook.com/MulberryDogwoodSoapCo