Our story begins with the co-owners of Suds and Lather (now Normal Soap Company): Jessica and Kevin.
Jessica Cudnik Mini Bio:
I’m a 4th generation soap maker but am self taught because I never knew my family history. It seems I’m a natural at it because its in my blood! I’ve always craved making things with my hands. I believe in quality and it shows in our products.
Kevin Samples Mini Bio:
It all started with my curiosity and a website that taught dudes how to make stuff from scratch. I believe in limiting your exposure to unnecessary chemicals and using good products on your body. Natural homemade soap is just better for your skin.
1. What did you major in at college?
Kevin MS in Ecology
Jessica MS in Horticulture
We are both environmentally focused so making a safe and quality product is a natural extension of our passions.
2. How did you begin with Suds & Lather (now Normal Soap Company)? Just tell me the story of how it all began.
Kevin had made homemade soap before and I wanted to know how, so we made soap as a date activity… and I just knew it would make great gifts. Being in grad school I was on a tight budget but knew I could make some nice soap and lip balm gifts. Once we started to make the soaps for gifts people wanted to start buying them and now we are regulars at the Athens Farmers Market, UGArden and have online sales through Etsy! We have loved learning how to make other natural bath products and now we have great botanical hand and muscle salves, bath salts, shave soaps, lip balms, sugar scrubs and coming soon is beard oil! We also love to share so we’ve started teaching Soap Making 101 classes as well.
3. How do you come up with your scents?
We mainly use Essential Oils and both of us have a background in plants (I’ve studied Aromatherapy) so we think of what we like and what makes a great blend (usually a top, middle, and bottom note) and just start there! We’ve begun using some high quality fragrance oils as well because some plants/fruits/herbs don’t create an essential oil. Getting
to play with those has really expanded our ability to make something for all the preferences our customers have!
4. How do you and Kevin split up the tasks of the business?
Whew! As long as only one of us is crazy at any given time, the other one can always be the calm wind of reason. (It’ll be interesting if we both have a crazy day at the same time!) Kevin is great at designing the packaging and labeling. He has a background working with design programs so that makes sense for him to handle that. We both love to make the products and if there were more time we could do that but I make most of the products at the moment and handle R&D with the new items. We are both at the Farmers Market together if for no other reason than to see each other after a tough week (we both work full-time jobs). We both handle the finances as well as keeping an eye out for opportunities in the community. Oh! and we co-teach the soap making classes!
Buying local applies to us as well!
As the premier Athens soap company …We apply the ‘buy local’ principal to ourselves as well! Wonderful soap ingredients are sourced here locally in Athens, GA. We partner with 1000 Faces Coffee, Booger Hill Bee Company, The Pastures of Rose Creek, LLC, Terrapin Beer Co., and UGArden for many of our soap ingredients like organically grown herbs and honey!