2012 Conference Speakers

Marla Bosworth

Marla Bosworth is a Boston-based natural beauty consultant, speaker and retail beauty trends market analyst. She is CEO and President of Back Porch Soap Company, which she founded in 1998.

Understanding retail sales and products at an early age (she began working in retail at the age of 16 in the resort town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming), she developed a keen eye for how to differentiate consumer products and began uncovering the secrets to successful selling techniques - from trendy gift shop boutiques to ski apparel. Her love of retail prompted her to open a store, named Back Porch Soap Co., in the Boston area. She began teaching cosmetic formulation classes there in 2003.

Ms. Bosworth consults with entrepreneurs, startups and companies of all sizes. She specializes in handmade soap, cosmetic, bath and body - from gift to gourmet industries and many in between. Ms. Bosworth teaches natural skincare products workshops in Boston, New York City, and online.

Kevin Dunn

Kevin Dunn is the Elliott Professor of Chemistry at Hampden-Sydney College. His book, Caveman Chemistry, brought him to the attention of handcrafted soapmakers and because of this he has undertaken a series of research projects on the chemistry of handcrafted soap. This research has culminated in a second book, Scientific Soapmaking, which was published the Spring of 2010.

Professor Dunn has appeared on the Learning Channel's "Mysteries of Magic" and the History Channel's "Modern Marvels". He lives in central Virginia with his wife and several cats.

Ruth Esteves

Trained as a laboratory research scientist, Ruth Esteves started making handmade soap as one more in a long line of hobbies. Soapmaking for her is the perfect blending of chemistry and art. But as her interest for soapmaking grew, so did her enthusiasm - and her inventory. Establishing her own soap company, Sirona Springs Handmade Soap, seemed like a good way to justify designing and making even more soap. But then in 2009, Ruth’s passion for soap met with her calling to teach, and she become a teacher at The Nova Studio in Point Richmond, California. Now her time is split between exploring the magic of soapmaking and sharing her knowledge with other soapmakers.

Ann Evanston

Ann M. Evanston, M.A., has over 20 years of speaking and consulting experience. With an extensive background in developing new leaders from corporate America to those starting their own businesses, she has developed programs and presented seminars to diverse populations and workforces.

Ann Evanston holds a Masters degree in Psychology/Training and Organizational Development from Antioch University Seattle and an undergraduate degree in Sociology from Whitman College. Her social psychology degrees have made her a master in the web 2.0 social networking arena. Now she is able to teach others how to connect and attract what you need whether in person or online. As a speaker and seminar leader, those watching have stated that Ann is "highly entertaining," "insightful," "knowledgeable," and "thought-provoking." She is an energetic, fun-loving, wise and professional speaker and trainer, who makes her audience laugh, challenges them to think, pushes them to excel, and moves them to achieve more in their lives.

Catherine Failor

Catherine Failor has been professionally involved with soapmaking for over 20 years. In 1990, she launched Copra Soap, which manufactured the very first embedded soaps on the market. In 1997, she wrote Making Transparent Soap , followed in 1999 with Making Natural Liquid Soap. She has also written the bulletin "Making Cream Soap". In 1998, noting both a dearth of soap molds and the fast-growing number of soapmakers, she taught herself to sculpt and within the year launched Milky Way Molds. In addition to running a business, Catherine is very active in her local Portland, Oregon neighborhood. In 2011, she worked for months with 10 other volunteers and founded the Woodstock neighborhood's first farmers market.

Anne-Marie Faiola

Anne-Marie Faiola is the owner and founder of Brambleberry, an online soapmaking supply company. She founded the company in 1998 after a brief and unsuccessful stint as a correctional officer. She enjoys running the non-profit instructional site www.teachsoap.com as well as blogging almost daily at www.soapqueen.com. Anne-Marie has an instructional Soapmaking channel and loves to Tweet (twitter.com/brambleberry) and FB with other small business owners and soapmakers all over the world. Anne-Marie loves to teach and does so often at the shop she owns Bellingham called Otion which specializes in teaching soapmaking to all ages. In her spare time she likes to scuba dive, run and read. She is married and lives in Bellingham, WA.

David Fisher

David Fisher has always loved working with his hands, and creating things from scratch. Part chemistry, part art, part cooking, part frugal living, soap making became a passion of his over 10 years ago. He teaches classes for community organizations in Dallas, TX and is the Guide to Candle and Soap Making for About.com, an online division of the New York Times. Each month, his articles, tutorials, videos and tips are viewed by between 80-100,000 candle and soap makers around the world.

As his "real job", he is an arts administrator. After 16 years with the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, he recently was appointed as the Executive Director of the Turtle Creek Chorale, a nationally known men’s chorus that was founded in 1980.

Marie Gale

Marie Gale is a soapmaker and writer and has been a supporter of the handcrafted soap industry for over a decade. Today she is the owner of Chandler's Soaps where she sells her own handcrafted soaps and body care products.

In 2007 she wrote and published Soap and Cosmetic Labeling: How to Follow the Rules and Regs Explained in Plain English, which was updated and reprinted in 2008. Her book has become a standard within the handcrafted soap and cosmetics industry, providing valuable information to small manufacturers to enable them to follow the regulations in labeling their products. She feels strongly that the best method of ensuring continued self-regulation within the cosmetics industry is by educating small manufacturers on how to comply so additional government intervention and regulation never becomes necessary.

A member of the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild, Inc. since 1999, Marie served as President of the HSMG from March 2004 to June 2009 and continues to work with the HSMG on several committees. She also serves as Webmaster.

Marie currently lives on her family ranch in Southwestern Oregon, with the man in her life, 3 horses, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a number of chickens. She has the great fortune to be able to stay connected to and interact with the world via wireless high-speed internet and phone.

Kathryn Hackney

Kathryn Hackney is an expert soapmaker hailing from the Pacific Northwest. As part of the Bramble Berry retail team in Washington State, she is the assistant manager and lead instructor at Otion: The Soap Bar. She writes and photographs the tutorials and articles for the Soap King and has made over 300 batches of cold process soap. She specializes in swirling techniquest that create art from craft and teaches soapmaking multiple times per week.

Diane Humke

Diane was born in Portland, Oregon where her family owned an industrial wholesale supply business. After attending Oregon State University, majoring in business, she stepped in to manage the family business with other family members in 1973 fully taking the reins in the mid-80's. Diane sucessfull managed and grew the company until 2007 when she retired and the business was sold to key employees.

After traveling for a while and then setting in Scappoose, Oregon, Diane was enticed to take the position of COO of Essential Wholesale in November 2010. She, along with other key investors and employees, purchased the business in early 2012.

Joel D. Joseph

Mr. Joseph is the founder and chairman of the Made in the USA Foundation. Mr. Joseph is a lawyer (Georgetown University) and an economist (Northwestern University). In 1999 he started the American Crafts Project to protect the copyrights, trademarks and patents of craft designers and has successfully sued K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Target and Kohls for stealing the intellectual property of designers, recovering hundreds of thousands of dollars for these craftsmen.

Mr. Joseph has lectured and written on copyrights and trademarks at workshops, trade shows and in the Crafts Report, worked for passage of the Country of Origin Labeling Act and testified before the U.S. Senate on the American Automobile Labeling Act. He is the author of ten books on the law and has written hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles on related issues.

Sara Lovelady

Sara Lovelady, a.k.a. Wordgirl®, has worked as a natural products copywriter for the past 17 years - including seven years as copywriter, brand manager and marketing director for Rainbow Light Nutritional Systems (a nationally distributed vitamin brand) and nine years as a freelance writer. She has written copy for over 100 brands of natural supplement, food, body care, and clothing lines and has published articles in numerous consumer and trade natural health magazines and websites, including Delicious Living, Healthy Living, Aisle 7 (previously HealthNotes), Nutrition Business Journal, Natural Foods Merchandiser, Whole Foods, Holistic Primary Care, Nutraceuticals World, Natural Products Insider and Food Product Design.

Debbie May

Debbie May began making and selling soap in 1996 to help support her growing family. At the time, she and her husband Dave had two children (one child requiring full time disabled care). From her home, Debbie cared for the children, refined her craft, and eventually grew a successful finished soap business named May Showers. Her products sold coast-to-coast in retail stores, craft shows, home parties, and fundraisers.

While other crafters had trouble selling their products, Debbie enjoyed success and consistently left craft shows with empty boxes. As more and more crafters sought her soap making advice, Debbie started a new company in 1997 named Soap Supplies Plus. Through that company, she helped other crafters learn the soap making process and supplied products to begin their own businesses. By 1999, crafters seemed ever more interested in candles and candle making, so a new company named Wholesale Supplies Plus was launched.

Wholesale Supplies Plus, Inc. is a privately held corporation with Debbie and Dave May the sole shareholders. Debbie is the President and CEO with the responsibilities of Corporate Vision, Contractual Partnerships, Product Development, Marketing and Customer Service. Dave is the Vice President with the responsibilities of Human Resources, Benefits, Accounting and Warehouse Operations.

Although the company has grown, Debbie still believes that every customer is equally important and deserves the highest level of customer support. Wholesale Supplies Plus still supports an enthusiastic motto - Your Success Is Our Business. Debbie's personal belief that it is her job to "Work Hard for Your Success" because it is only through the success of customers that she can obtain personal success.

Sharon Miller

Sharon Miller is the Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, a position she has held since 1999. During Sharon's tenure, Renaissance added its second location, the Bayview Business Resource Center, merged with Start Up, the only micro-enterprise organization in the Mid-Peninsula, expanded its small business incubator from 14 to 30 tenants, became a US Small Business Administration Women's Business Center, and launched an instructor-led online business planning class to reach potential entrepreneurs regardless of their geographic location. In 2012 Renaissance will be launching a fourth center in San Rafael to serve Marin County.

In addition to her 25+ years of experience in the non-profit sector, Sharon co-owned and co-founded Travel Systems, an international travel wholesaler in New York City. Sharon is the past Chair of CAMEO (California Association of Micro-Enterprise Organizations) a board member of the Association of Women's Business Centers and a member of the JP Morgan Chase Community Advisory Board. Sharon received the the 2011 US Small Business Administration Women's Business Champion of the Year Award, a 2010 National Women's History Month History Makers Powerful Women of the Bay Award, and the 2009 National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), San Francisco Chapter Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

William (Bill) Shay

Bill Shay has been in the palm and coconut oil industry for over 35 years. He graduated from Portland State University in 1975 with a BS Degree in Accounting. Upon graduation, Bill went to work for Premier Edible Oils, a company specializing in importation and refinement of palm and coconut oils. In 1987, Bill traveled to Malaysia (the number one palm producing country in the world) to visit exporters and tour the plantations, seeing first-hand how the palm fruit was processed and loaded on to vessels that were bound for the United States.

After Premier Edible Oils' Portland refinery closed in 1996, Bill founded Shay and Company to market oils to customers who needed smaller quantities of oils, particularly the growing handcrafted soap industry. In the ensuing 16 years, Shay and Company has become an established supplier of oils, glycerin soap base, soy wax and other supplies for the handcrafted soap, cosmetics and candle industries. The company also supplies the food industry.

Bill has been involved with the HSMG since he first spoke at the Hood River Conference in 1997.

Jade Shutes

Jade Shutes' life was transformed after traveling to England as an exchange student in 1988/89. It was there that her love for aromatic and medicinal plants was nurtured and where her experience of aromatherapy ignited a lifetime passion and commitment to educating others about how to care for self and clients utilizing the beauty and power of essential oils. Jade has been an aromatherapy educator, practitioner, author, and researcher for over 20 years. She has played important roles in the development of education standards for aromatherapy and has published numerous articles on various topics relating to aromatherapy and holistic health. She is the owner and Director of Education for the East-West School for Herbal and Aromatic Studies (www.theida.com) which offers educational programs throughout the United States, as well as in Taiwan, Canada, and Hungary.

Sebastian Vido Vazquez

Sebastian Vido Vazquez is a San Francisco based Product and Commercial Photographer. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sebastian has a strong appreciation of culture, nature, and art which is displayed in his photography. At a young age Sebastian displayed his passion for art through drawing. His passion for photography emerged in his teen years when he began using a 35mm black and white film camera. He saw black and white film as a way to create an instant drawing, and ultimately turned his passion into a career. Sebastian attended San Jose State University and graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts, emphasis in Photography. His studio ethic is to capture his lighting effects in camera without Photoshop manipulation. Sebastian incorporates the elements acquired from his Fine Arts education into every photo as he puts great detail into his subjects, composition and lighting before pressing the shutter.