We were lucky to catch up with Tiffany Willis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiffany, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I owe the beginning stages of business to a dear friend of mine. I had been making body butters and lotion bars for personal use for years. One year, my friend’s birthday was coming up and I was low on cash. I decided to make her a couple of lotion bars and some body butter. A month later, she calls me and says “that soap you gave me was amazing!” Confused, I asked her “what soap?” She replies, “the soap you gave me for my birthday. It has my skin feeling so soft and smooth.” Giggling, I replied “honey, I didn’t give you soap. That was a lotion bar. I don’t think you’ve been cleaning your skin this whole time.” She wasn’t letting it up, “I’ve been using it as soap and it’s been wonderful. Maybe you should think about making soap. I’d definitely buy it if it’s anything like this lotion bar.” After that conversation, I start researching on how to make soap. I got some people together as a focus group as I was testing different recipes. I researched and tested products for a year before officially starting the business.

Tiffany, 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’ve always liked the idea of creating products for myself. Even in middle school I would grab herbs from the garden and find a book about how it may benefit hair or skin. I didn’t have google back then so a lot of information was based on what I could find in library books. I’d mix things as best I could, and I did good with what I made, but didn’t learn the actual science behind turning these items into something sustainable. Researching about soap making lead me to the research of other body care products. The soaps I make are “real soaps.” Most of what can be bought at grocery or retail stores are solid detergent bars instead of real soap. Detergent bars are made different than soap and use cheaper ingredients. The beauty of making real soap is that I use real ingredients that are gentle and loving to the skin like shea butter and safflower oil.
I think I’m most proud of the fact that I’m still excited to receive orders. I still get very happy and am still very grateful for everyone willing to try my products and even more excited when someone loved my products enough to order again.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

On my personal Facebook page, I’m playfully referred to by some as “Meme Lord.” My personal page is full of funny anecdotes about my personal life, my personal thoughts, and full of funny memes. I kept my business page serious. The only photos I posted were of products or vendor event flyers, or pictures from the events. I took notice of how much attention I was getting on my personal page and decided to experiment with funny memes that would advertise my business as well. I started creating funny memes and would post them on both my personal and business page. The followers on my business page grew significantly, and I’ve started receiving more orders from people who saw a meme, laughed, and decided they wanted to support me based on how funny the meme was.

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

In June of 2019, my fiance’s mother had a stroke. He and I became her caregivers. We came up with a system so that I wouldn’t have to halt any of my production. But then in late July of 2021, our household contracted covid which led to his mother having another another stroke. Shortly before the covid, I received 4 wholesale orders. I felt so horrible not only physically, but having to put off production of orders people paid for in advance. My customers, however, are amazing. No one wanted to cancel their order. Instead, everyone was willing to wait until we were better and was able to get her back to being stable. Being honest, it took me 4 months to get caught up. Thankfully, everyone was patient and understanding.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jadedonyx.com
• Instagram: @onyxjaded
• Facebook: @Jaded Onyx Soap and Beauty
• Twitter: @SoapOnyx
• Youtube: Jaded Onyx Soap & Beauty