We were lucky to catch up with Tarra Hardeman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tarra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I always thought I was doing the natural thing, the right thing for my family. I purchased “natural” products and made food from scratch, avoided fast food and processed products. I trusted labels and commercials and I followed suit with what my mom did when I was growing up. I purchased a big name baby wash in 2016 for my then 3 and 6 year old. When I opened it, it smelled of window cleaner. I was confused. I read the label and couldn’t understand a thing. I researched each of the ingredients and found that I had just purchased a bottle full of water, detergent and fragrance. I was appalled. I set out to learn more about what the skin needs and how it can be cared for naturally. The Carmel Soap Company was born. We now handcraft over 80 products and ship around the world. Each of our products is handmade from scratch. We don’t use premade bases, fillers, chemicals, and other things that cheapen the natural mission of our company. We aim to educate, provide exemplary customer service and communication to everyone that wants to hear. Our motto is Honest. Transparent. Pure. It’s that simple. You can count on the Carmel Soap Company to do the right thing by you and your skin. So, check us out today. We promise to do the right thing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Tarra. I am a 46 year old wife and mom of 4 wonderful children. My oldest is 27 and my baby is 8. This is my third career. None of this was planned LOL. I have a degree in Business and Education and I am a federal government Business Manager by trade. When I was expecting my third child, I wanted things to be different, so I opened a small school to be with my new baby. That was a lot! In the middle of those years, I experienced disappointment with the skincare industry that I had trusted all of my life. I used my natural research skills to learn more, develop products and educate. The Carmel Soap Company has now been my full-time job for the last 5 years. This business is everything to my family. It’s important for us to stay small, use natural and plant based ingredients and move forward in business with integrity. We avoid the use of artificial, animal derived and cheap ingredients. We commit to always providing honest and genuinely natural products, that you can count on to be pure, effective and affordable.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am not a rule follower! I don’t follow recipes, what the crowd does or what’s popular. I’ve always wanted to create my own path. In this business that was a mistake! I wasted a lot of time trying to recreate the wheel, instead of taking the current wheel and perfecting it. There are so many great soap makers, great recipes and great tips out there. I avoided them all because I didn’t want our company to be like the others. I have learned to take the good things and leave the bad things, instead of avoiding everything. I worked so hard to be different that I wasted time inventing ideas, recipes and approaches that were already out there.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

COVID! When Covid hit the country, we were in a retail location and I didn’t feel good about it. Covid forced us to close and it was actually right on time for us. We were able to take a step back and go 100% ecommerce. I was great! Covid made us all take a stronger look at hygiene, germs and keeping things clean. As we stepped back, the industry was put in the forefront and we grew stronger. We are now, after two years, ready to go back to retail and we feel much stronger and able to be successful there.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carmelsoap.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/carmelsoap
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/carmelsoap