Cheryl is a soapy friend of mine and is someone you definitely want to know if you’re in the industry! She has a retail storefront, a supply business with unique products and loves making educational videos and resources for our industry. If you’re not already in her Facebook group, join here! She is also bringing a new conference to the midwest, Unique Bath, Body and Home!

Let’s get to know her a little better!

Amanda: Who are you and what do you do?

Cheryl: Cheryl Mitchell aka Miss Doyle! I own a retail store Miss Doyle’s Soapery (only my bath and body products are sold there), I own Miss Doyle’s Supply (I teach about new and different ingredients and products for bath, body and home and sell those supplies), Which launched Unique Bath Body & Home Facebook Group last year and has inspired us to create a Midwest region Conference for makers. Called Unique Bath, Body, Home!

A: Tell us about your store. What inspired you to open a retail location?

C: My retail store is roughly 1000 square feet in Historic Downtown Weston Missouri which is a pre-civil war town about 15 minutes north of Kansas City.  I started in a tiny 400 sq. ft building 2 doors up from my current location and 1 year later my sales were big enough to expand. I offer naturally based products that are mainly aromatherapy driven and also a line called Active Duty Soaps. (Which donates tangible products back to our Active Duty Military). We have been a brick and mortar for 3 years in Weston, MO and 2 years before that we were located in Savannah MO (sales were not as great so we moved in 2016). What inspired me to open a retail location was the ability to work with the public and bring my products to life in my own controlled setting. I didn’t have the ability to travel to stores for wholesale so I dug in deep and decided to become my own store. Which was the greatest decision I have made for the Soapery side.

A: What has been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome?

C: My biggest challenge has been myself. I doubt a lot of my moves and have had to take the bull by the horn to overcome my lack of decision making. I have worked with ingredients long enough now that I was able to become confident in my products. I have been making bath and body products since 2004 mainly at markets and I have owned a few different companies over the years. Learning about essential oils and herbs was my first step to becoming confident. I became certified in both and then went to digging deep regarding raw materials and how they work.  Once I became comfortable I was able to move forward with new recipes and then the business became successful.

A:  What are your favorite products to make?

C: My favorite products to make are unique and different from the “norm”. I like to use raw materials that challenge me. Like surfactants, odor neutralizers, naturally based emulsifiers and such. I also like to create products that have never really existed before. I pride myself on being unique in our offerings.

A:  What inspires you to create?

C: The excitement of creating something new and different is such a thrill. I enjoy testing new ingredients and working with new manufacturers. There is always something to learn so I am always scrubbing the internet or reading books.

A:  Favorite ingredient to use?

C: My favorite ingredient is odor neutralizing products so Zinc Ricinoleate or now a new Odor Neutralizing ingredient I am about to launch. (can’t let that secret out yet).

A:  Tell us about the Unique Bath, Body and Home Conference and its history.

C: I have been to so many conferences small and large in a handful of different categories for making and business. I realized that we were lacking a conference that offered completely new and different ideas. The same things are being taught year after year by different people. I really wanted to talk to teachers and makers about stretching their imagination and creating something new for our conference. We also haven’t had a big or small conference in the Midwest in years so being located in the middle of the United States has made sense to offer one close to an international airport and within 3-3.5 flight hours of every point in the US. This will be our first official year and we have some amazing speakers on board and is already a good start for 2021!

Learn more about the conference here!

A:  What is your biggest hurdle when planning this event?

C: The biggest hurdle is finding supply companies to come out to our event. When people come to a conference they don’t always buy on the spot so it can be costly for a vendor/supply company to truck products and such if they are not local to the area. They do not always make their money back from the cost of travel, hotel and food. Not to mention bringing a truck load of product to sell. So we are looking for vendors/supply that will set up a booth and offer free shipping or discounted shipping to folks that want to order and hoping that we can have vendors/supply companies that will offer raw materials for the classes that are being taught. So once an attendee can take the class they can either buy the raw materials right then and there at break or order them from the table.

A:  You have an awesome line up of speakers! Tell us about a few that you are super excited about.

C: That is such a hard question! I am in love with all the speaker’s topics! To name just a few we have Ariane Arsenault flying in from Canada speaking on shampoo and conditioning bars using unique and different ingredients, Jo Hausler from Australia who is covering natural colorants for soaps and bath & body products, and we are super excited about our duo team of Amanda and Benjamin Aaron speaking on bubbly goodness and business! Also our attendees will learn all about photography by Zahida Map with Handmade in Florida! People can find our full lineup on our website and sign up to come! We are also excited to be offering a live stream / recorded version of the conference that will also be emailed as a download for each session to all the attendees! (in person or live stream). We just can’t say enough great things about all of our speakers we have amazing power makers in our industry and can’t wait to see everyone in person June 13-14, 2020!

We hope to see you there!