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Take A Walk Through Mama's Bath & Body
Published 7 years, 7 months ago
Description
Emilie and her team did an amazing job in creating a unique ambiance in Mama's Bath & Body. What started off as a hobby has transformed lives for the better. Find out how this trailblazer turned her back on the entertainment world and found joy in her passion.
Website: http://loveyourmama.com
Follow: @mamabathandbody
About: In 2002, I was living in Los Angeles and freelancing in the film industry. I worked my way up from production assistant on movies to a Producer on music videos and commercials. I ended my career in 2008 as Executive Producer at a local commercial production company. My college degree was in video production and I had no formal business training, but the film industry provided a great base for running my own business. I learned operations and management and budgeting while on the job for 14 years. As a freelancer, I had a lot of time on my hands and the desire to be in control of my destiny. I was deeply influenced by the natural lifestyle that was popular in California and I had always loved body products. I knew I wanted to create something and eventually started playing around with making lotions at home. This was before this kind of information was readily available on the Internet, so I got a bunch of books and put myself to through Natural Body Product School. I learned everything I could about carrier and essential oils and natural butters and what was good for what kinds of skin, etc. Around this time, I discovered a friend of a friend had a small shop called Urban Natural Body down the street from my apartment in the Silver Lake area of LA and she was looking for a business partner. I dove in and started working with her but the partnership didn't work out, so I bought the name and the product recipes from her. She was mostly buying bases and adding scents to them at the time and I knew that I wanted to make my products from scratch. So I spent the next couple of years selling at small fairs and festivals while working on creating new recipes and a new brand. I launched Mama in 2004 and continued to do street festivals and markets on the side while taking freelance work as it came. My then boyfriend (now husband) and I moved to Atlanta in 2005 and I continued to run Mama as my side hustle while freelancing. I took a full-time job as theExecutive Producer of a commercial production company in Atlanta in 2007 and negotiated a day per week where I could work on Mama. I rented a studio space from a friend knowing it would help me take it more seriously, but managing the 2 very different jobs became increasingly difficult. At the end of 2008, I made the decision to focus on Mama exclusively. My next move was into a dog bakery that a friend of mine owned to share manufacturing and retail space. Turns out dog biscuits and body products don't make the best bedfellows, so I made the jump to my own tiny studio/retail space in summer of 2009 on the outskirts of Decatur. This happened to coincide with the big recession, so Mama grew slowly but steadily in this off-the-beaten-path location for 5 years. We had retail hours in the store and I continued doing street festivals and markets to help build my business. I did a few trade shows during this time but realized that to make any money doing wholesale, I would have to change my business plan and I didn't want to do that. In my hear
Website: http://loveyourmama.com
Follow: @mamabathandbody
About: In 2002, I was living in Los Angeles and freelancing in the film industry. I worked my way up from production assistant on movies to a Producer on music videos and commercials. I ended my career in 2008 as Executive Producer at a local commercial production company. My college degree was in video production and I had no formal business training, but the film industry provided a great base for running my own business. I learned operations and management and budgeting while on the job for 14 years. As a freelancer, I had a lot of time on my hands and the desire to be in control of my destiny. I was deeply influenced by the natural lifestyle that was popular in California and I had always loved body products. I knew I wanted to create something and eventually started playing around with making lotions at home. This was before this kind of information was readily available on the Internet, so I got a bunch of books and put myself to through Natural Body Product School. I learned everything I could about carrier and essential oils and natural butters and what was good for what kinds of skin, etc. Around this time, I discovered a friend of a friend had a small shop called Urban Natural Body down the street from my apartment in the Silver Lake area of LA and she was looking for a business partner. I dove in and started working with her but the partnership didn't work out, so I bought the name and the product recipes from her. She was mostly buying bases and adding scents to them at the time and I knew that I wanted to make my products from scratch. So I spent the next couple of years selling at small fairs and festivals while working on creating new recipes and a new brand. I launched Mama in 2004 and continued to do street festivals and markets on the side while taking freelance work as it came. My then boyfriend (now husband) and I moved to Atlanta in 2005 and I continued to run Mama as my side hustle while freelancing. I took a full-time job as theExecutive Producer of a commercial production company in Atlanta in 2007 and negotiated a day per week where I could work on Mama. I rented a studio space from a friend knowing it would help me take it more seriously, but managing the 2 very different jobs became increasingly difficult. At the end of 2008, I made the decision to focus on Mama exclusively. My next move was into a dog bakery that a friend of mine owned to share manufacturing and retail space. Turns out dog biscuits and body products don't make the best bedfellows, so I made the jump to my own tiny studio/retail space in summer of 2009 on the outskirts of Decatur. This happened to coincide with the big recession, so Mama grew slowly but steadily in this off-the-beaten-path location for 5 years. We had retail hours in the store and I continued doing street festivals and markets to help build my business. I did a few trade shows during this time but realized that to make any money doing wholesale, I would have to change my business plan and I didn't want to do that. In my hear