We were lucky to catch up with Theresa Bonner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Theresa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

Third Child Wellness Boutique donates 5% of our annual profits to the ACLU, Trevor Project and Steps-Together of Hillsborough, NJ.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

In 2018, after a decade and a half of being a stay at home mom and a certified nutritional counselor, I realized that I wanted to spend the next phase of my life creating magic in the kitchen. This time around though, I’d be caring for people’s skin and emotional health. My brand, Third Child Wellness Boutique, started off super small in my home kitchen. My mother-in law, Shirley, and I started selling my hand made products on line and at street fairs. Then, in 2021, we were excited to open our first brink and mortar boutique in downtown Somerville, NJ.

Nutritional counseling focused mostly on the body and what we put into it, one client at a time. As a manufacturer, I knew I could help far more people by creating healthy products to put on their skin. Using therapeutic essential oils and organic unrefined ingredients, I was able to make safe, effective products that healed damaged skin, even-out skin tone and help alleviate stress and anxiety. Through research, I learned that most moisturizers have quite a bit of alcohol and perfumes added to their formulas, which actually dries and irritates the skin more. Not what you are looking for when you have chronic dry skin, like I do. Most lotions will actually burn my skin when I use them during a flair up. Third Child Wellness Skin Repair butter is made with just 4 or 5 ingredients and each one is recognizable to the consumer. No alcohol, no preservatives and only scented with organic essential oils. That’s what really sets us apart from the majority of the skincare industry. Even the products that are advertised as “natural” have tons of ingredients that I would never want to use on myself or my kids.

My goal is to make products that people who “can never use anything without breaking out” can use without fear. Our customers know that each tin of skin repair butter, aromatherapy roll-on and every bottle of coffee oil is made by hand in my boutique, by me. They know that they can make an appointment at the Scent Bar and create their own custom scented oil blend, that can then be added to any of our products, just for them.

Not only do I strive to create safe products for people’s skin, but I do my best to create a safe space for our community. We make sure customers know that we are lgbtq+ friendly and that everyone is welcome. We have also begun adding guided meditation classes, reiki healing and gentle yoga classes to our services in the boutique. The boutique has become a space for physical and mental wellness and I am proud to bring that to the community.

My proudest moment as a business owner came recently when Third Child Wellness Boutique was named Best Boutique in Central Jersey 2022 by MyCentralJersey readers. It is such an overwhelming feeling to know that we have made an impact on the lives of our customers and the business community. It makes all of the hard work worth it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think that one of the keys to our success has been the ability to be flexible and stay on top of trends. When COVID hit, we were on the path to being a vendor at the Natural Products Expo East. It was a huge step that would have put us in front of thousands of retailers from all over the east coast. I mean, this was it, our big chance to get on every shelf of every natural market around. We had invested thousands into booking our spot, marketing materials and product samples. Then, all of a sudden, everything was cancelled indefinitely. I mean everything. No more street fairs or in-store product demos. It was all just… gone. Thankfully we were able to get our event deposit back, but everything else was non-refundable. We had to move fast and figure out what our new business plan looked like.

At the time, I noticed that subscription boxes were getting more and more popular, since everyone was doing most of their shopping online. So, I ordered a couple of boxes from different companies to see their packaging and how they were marketing themselves. We quickly started to blend up some seasonal scented products that would only be available in the subscription box. We also started doing live new product launches on Facebook and Instagram, so we could create vital interaction with our customers. It was a lot of work and I was anything but comfortable doing live videos, but it worked! Our seasonal scents and new products sold amazingly well and held us over until the world started to open back up again.

We did so well in fact that when a retail space opened up suddenly in the summer of 2021, we were able to scoop it up. We opened our brick and mortar boutique in record time after signing the lease. With help from friends, family and the Downtown Somerville Alliance, we celebrated our grand opening just a month and a half after touring the space. It was a whirlwind and I feel like we haven’t really slowed down since. But, I know that whatever may block our path in the future won’t stop us. It may just cause us to change direction a little and that’s just fine.

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

One lesson that I had to unlearn was thinking that I had to do everything myself to be an independent woman. I think it’s a belief that a lot of women have, unfortunately. Thinking that we need to push ourselves unrelentingly in order to achieve our goals and be seen as strong. Over the last few years, I have learned the hard way that if you never ask for help and try to push yourself too much, you will burnout and have nothing left to give.

Every time I tried to do it all at home and work, I ended up deeply depressed and sick as a dog. Friends would see my social media posts getting darker and more angst-filled and reach out. “What do you need?” or “Is there anything I can do to help?”. Every time. I would say, “no thank you, I’ll be OK.”. I didn’t want to appear weak or needy. Finally, a couple of my friends had to basically force their help on me. It was humbling and I eventually learned to be grateful and actually ask for help, instead of waiting for someone to offer it. Asking for help can be the smartest and strongest thing a woman can do. Reaching out saves you from emotional, physical and mental drain. It keeps you going and provides you with the time to be creative and to rest. Ah, sweet valuable rest.

Contact Info:

• Website: ThirdChildwb.com
• Instagram: @realthirdchildwellnessboutique
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thirdchildwb

Image Credits
Hidden Spring Lavender Farm portrait by Meerloo Photography, Raritan, NJ. All other photos provided by Theresa Bonner.