🚲 Why and How I Started Magnolia Street Soap Mill
Losing My Job — and Finding a New Path
It was September of 2014 in my hometown of Del Rio, TX. I had just been laid off from my Federal Government job due to budget cuts. The next several months were filled with filing unemployment claims and applying for jobs weekly. There I was — a single mom to a 9-year-old little girl, with no job and rent to pay. To say I was down in the dumps is an understatement. Looking back, I think I was depressed.
I’d take my daughter to school in the mornings, then sleep most of the day — partly to avoid the emotional weight I was carrying, but also to conserve food and utilities. One day, either shortly before or after I was laid off, a coworker of mine — also a single mom, serving in the Air Force — came to me with a gift. She handed me $100 of her own money and said she had been thinking of me and wanted to bless us. That one act of kindness is forever ingrained in my memory. I eventually used that money to buy my first pieces of soapmaking equipment and raw ingredients. (Thank you Kat! I love you girl!)
The Search for a Simple Soap
Later that year, a friend who was interested in natural hygiene products was on the hunt for a true castile bar soap — one made with 100% olive oil and no added ingredients, perfect for sensitive skin and those allergic to coconut oil. We searched everywhere in town: Walmart, H-E-B, drugstores, discount shops like Ross and Marshalls... but came up empty. So I took it upon myself to learn how to make it.
I checked out soapmaking books from the local library and binged YouTube tutorials. After all, I had plenty of time — and this new project began to lift me out of that dark funk. Before long, I was hooked on the process. My first mold? An empty milk carton (lol). With very little money to spend, I relied on DIY hacks I found online. In the beginning, I gave my soaps to close friends and family. Some of them thought they were cheese — haha! 😂 With a gentle nudge from my entrepreneurial uncle, I started to imagine this could become something more.
The Name That Wouldn’t Let Go
When I started brainstorming business names, I kept circling back to one memory: my great-grandfather’s adobe home on Magnolia Street.
We lived there for a while when I was in 7th grade. It’s where I had my first job — delivering the Del Rio News Herald on my bike. That street, that house, those memories... they kept coming back. I couldn’t think of anything else. Eventually, I gave in:
“This is it. This is the name and story I have to follow.”
A Vintage Connection
My maternal grandma — who I mentioned in my first blog post — loved flea markets. But she was also a devoted thrift shopper and garage sale queen. She passed down that love of treasure hunting to me.
One day, I gifted some soap to the owners of a local vintage store called Gracie’s Finds. To my surprise, Mr. Lissner was a huge fan of bar soap! He invited me to sell some in their shop. That was my very first opportunity to sell publicly.
Soon after, I applied to our monthly downtown craft market. To my knowledge, I was the first person in Del Rio making and selling natural bar soaps. For years, I was the only one. Eventually, a few other women began to join in and share their beautiful creations with our community.
From Side Hustle to Something More
As much as I dreamed of doing this full time, I knew I needed the stability of a full-time job to support my daughter. So Magnolia Street remained a side hustle — sometimes active, sometimes on pause — for the next ten years. I even took a two-year break during the height of COVID.
During that time, I got married and we moved from Texas to Arizona. We’ve now been in the Tucson area for almost six years — and the creative community here is far more vibrant than I expected! I’ve loved meeting other makers and rejoining the soap world in a new way.
Thank You
Whether you’ve been with Magnolia Street from the beginning or you’re just discovering us now — thank you. Every comment, every order, every bit of encouragement means the world to me. 😊
