Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tiffany Washington. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tiffany, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I think what my parents did right is that they did a little of everything. I think about this often as I have a 16 year old son and 13.5 year old daughter. Variety seems to be the spice of life as far as it being the secret to good parenting. Exposing children to a plethora of outlets for creative freedom, a multitude of sports and physical activities to see if there is interest or innate prowess, and then all kinds of people and cultural activities to help expand horizons and bolster creativity.

I feel like I sort of grew up in a multicultural household. My mom emigrated from Romania as a teen and my dad was an Army brat who started life in Germany, but then moved to the US and went to a boarding school in New York. Having grandparents from very different worlds and drastically different levels of means meant a constant dichotomy of exposure for my brother and me. It was actually really instructive in a ton of ways, but also very confusing.

For part of my early childhood I lived fairly close to the Cleveland Museum of Art. I’m not sure what prompted my first visit, but I remember it being love at first sight. That must have been evident, because my parents signed me up for Saturday classes and that basically is what solidified in me from a very young age (I think 5) that I wanted to be the person who knew all there was to know about the objects in the museum. So, they fostered this interest in art history, but they never pushed it at all. I gravitated toward the arts and they made my explorations possible. When I graduated from high school my mom took me on a Grand Tour of Europe and all was really underscored. I majored in the History of Art and Architecture and, one summer during college, I went back to the Cleveland Museum of Art and taught the young people’s classes with the very same instructor who taught me all those years before. It was a full-circle experience that was taken to an even deeper level when, after college, I chose to do my MA and PhD at that very museum and have all of my courses in the exact same classrooms in the basement of the museum.

Another thing was that they seemed to have regularly assessed what was going right and what wasn’t. There was a time toward the end of elementary school that my brother and I seemed to not be getting out of school what my parents thought we needed. A visit to another school, and an admissions test later, and we both were suddenly transferred to a new place. I wasn’t happy at first, or even for what seemed like a long while. When I look back on this now I literally find this to be the single best thing they did for me. I credit this school switch for my later academic successes and my drive for finding the way to be my best in all situations. This school switch left an impression on me that informed my own parenting and I use it as a barometer for the academic choices we make for our own children as well as a reminder for them to reassess their own learning and potential regularly as time passes.

My parents are very different from one another, both in background, but also in hobbies, demeanor, interests, and intellectual pursuits. This always struck me as odd and then I did the same thing when marrying my husband. I think balance is healthy and they demonstrated for me that there are merits to diversity. The other thing about constant exposure to diversity is that if unforced, it can breed tolerance and, hopefully, respect. I think it has done that in me and and it has also helped to continually foster my interest in studying the art of other cultures, hence the background in art history and the continual references to that in the products that I make for Pineapple Home Apothecary.

I’ve also received a ton of support for my more recent pursuit with the creation of Pineapple Home Apothecary. They haven’t said as much, but I think my parents likely never questioned this endeavor because they saw so many years of me demonstrating a deep interest in skincare, fragrance, and all things relating to the daily rituals of living.

My upbringing was so varied. I spent a lot of time on my maternal grandparents’ farm learning about Old World remedies, gardening, cooking and baking, but I also had a really great typical 1980s suburban childhood filled with lots of roller skating and biking to houses of friends, roller rinks, making mix tapes, doing crafts, being on a swim team, working at a local ice cream parlor, and doing a bit of traveling to New England, the Southwest, and several other places.

I don’t think my journey is over and I think sometimes about my mom enrolling in nursing school when I was about 12. I’m at the point now where I feel like I need to make a shift of some sort and having had the example that age doesn’t need to be a factor in that gives me some encouragement. Pineapple Home Apothecary isn’t going away, but in my professional career I feel as though I need to branch out in some manner to utilize my skills in a way that goes beyond the limits that my geography is putting on me.

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.

I’m a mother of a son and a daughter, an Art Historian with a PhD, and a homemaker. I got into my craft in a sort of circuitous way. I had a fascination with soaps, body products, perfumes, and candles for as long as I can remember. My paternal grandmother always had gorgeous products from Europe that I loved seeing and using when I was around her. My maternal grandparents grew up in rural Transylvania, Romania and made all of their own soaps and salves. These exposures, coupled with my interest in creating with my hands, being cognizant of the environment and wanting my children to use healthy, sustainable products for their own skin needs, was really the perfect combination of signs to begin creating my own body products. I began with lotion and soap and branched off from there.

I’m most proud of not having a mentor. I don’t belong to any groups, nor have I met another soap maker (aside from my late grandfather). I taught myself through trial and error and I have found success because I am good at researching and have high standards. I think customers love that they know nothing I use is harmful to our bodies or our earth and that nearly everything I make was inspired in some way by either an artwork or my travels or research. I have a story behind every scent.

My customers love that they can buy a candle trio that teaches them about Ernest Hemingway or that references my childhood in Cleveland in the 80s, a soap that smells like the little island in the Outer Hebrides where my grandmother grew up, or an evening I had at a foreign embassy while in my 20s. It’s not big box product and I’m so glad to provide an alternative.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Honestly, real life is about having to pivot. I feel like I’m having to pivot all the time, and this is isn’t just about being a business owner, working through a pandemic, parenthood, etc., it’s about being in tune with what is actually happening around you, i.e., the local and global economy, your energy level, outside elements suddenly requiring your time, effort, concentration, heart, supply chain issues, waning excitement, or health matters.

There are those stories of the mom and pop store that existed for a half a century and had continual success, but they are a rarity today. People want the next best thing and they want it yesterday. I don’t represent any of that and it doesn’t speak to me or my brand. At the same time, I do try very hard to meet the time constraints of my customers and also put my children and husband first. Sometimes being slow and steady with consistency good product that isn’t what you can so easily grab off the big box shelf, the mall store, or online with the unhealthy ingredients or suspect business practices is attractive enough to keep people coming back for me. But, finding out how to keep reminding people that this is the better way requires me to change course sometimes in terms of new focus with a product direction, packaging, etc. while still staying true to my brand and its identity.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The biggest example I can give about resiliency relates to the ten years during which I was a PhD candidate. I had begun as an eager student who recently received their MA. I had a vision for a career path, but departmental politics took reign and, for various disappointing reasons, my path seem obstructed at every single turn. It was hard to work so hard and see constant roadblocks. I ended up having to change advisors, which was disappointing and then somehow seemed more promising. My new advisor relocated and contact with her was sporadic and difficult. This all happened when I had a baby and a toddler, was in the process of moving, and also teaching courses at two different colleges. I have no idea how I managed. Departmental politics continued to hamper my efforts and the goal of finishing, but I literally gave myself the task of writing one topic sentence a day (which was actually more like midnight or 2 am) and to see that as an accomplishment and go from there. Little by little, I pursued and miraculously managed to finish my dissertation a few hundred pages later, a decade older than when I started, a ton wiser, slightly more cynical, but so glad to never have given up.

I look back at that time in my life and I can’t believe how dark it was in so many ways. But, I was so fortunate to have a supportive family and friend network to be my shining and guiding light, as well as an outlet and source of outside inspiration for me to help put things in perspective. In the end, the only way I would ever put up with all of the baggage would be if I could have guarantee that the knowledge and grit I gained in the process would again inspire and inform my parenting. I see that schooling and experience as a major gift to my children. I try in all ways I can to impart that knowledge on them and I see especially with one of my children that continual exposure, and conversation about, art and history has made a massive impact on their interests and knowledge. If my hardships can have helped them, it was all worth it in that alone. The material knowledge I gained achieving that degree is priceless and, as I recently returned from a European vacation with my family, I can say that it enriches my life to a degree that most people absolutely cannot even fathom.

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