Meet Kay Brown | Soapmaker & Small Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kay Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kay, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Scent of the Sun has really been the fulfillment of several threads that have run through my life. I’ve long loved soap, and I’ve been an artist since I was a child. I’ve also started a couple of previous businesses, so the idea of starting a soapmaking business that allowed me to combine my creative and entrepreneurial sides came naturally. Additionally, I love animals, so being able to create soaps for people interested in only consuming ingredients made with ethically source, cruelty free vegan materials was important to me.

I think Scent of the Sun unites all of those different elements, and the process of getting better at making soap and improving as a visual designer has been very fulfilling. We love working with color to create soaps that are not just practical but beautiful, and we make all of our creations by hand. This makes it incredibly rewarding for us when people enjoy using the products of our work.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My son, daughter-in-law, and I make vegan soaps, lotions, bath bombs, and other creations. Our soaps are entirely vegan and sourced from only cruelty-free ingredients, and we focus on ethical sourcing in a way that expresses our love for animals. We’re also proud of how our soaps and other creations combine not only practicality but a beautiful visual design–“practical beauty,” as we like to call it. These qualities make our creations distinctive, and we’re so pleased when people enjoy using them.

We’ve overcome many challenges to grow our business as well. My son and I set up our first table at the Gallatin Farmers’ Market in 2013 with nothing more than a few tubs of soap and a tablecloth, and we were acutely aware that we didn’t really know what we’re doing! But that day started a ten-year journey led to us creating a family business and eventually to my retiring from my job to take on the craft full-time.

Trial and error drove a lot of this, and we’ve learned to expand incrementally, but consistently. Constantly researching has also been key, as you never want to reinvent the wheel. More than that, though, it’s really been our customers and fellow business owners that have made that possible, not just by supporting us but by sharing their knowledge and feedback with us to help us get better every day.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d probably suggest visiting Gallatin’s Artisan Hatchery to start! It’s a local artisan cooperative in Gallatin, and it’s a great way to get introduced to local artists in the Greater Nashville Area while seeing some wonderful artistic creations. Beyond that, there’s so many points of interest in Nashville and Gallatin, from historic sites like Cragfont and Wynnewood State Historic Sites to Goodlettsville’s antique district, and much more. There are almost too many good local restaurants to count, too, and one of our favorite is Goodlettsville’s Green Chili Indian Restaurant, the best we’ve tried in Tennessee.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We got started with advice and knowledge from so many friends and resources! First and foremost, we learned from our fellow vendors at farmers’ markets and our customers, each of whom taught us to make better soap, construct more attractive displays, and try countless new ideas. Our Farmers’ Market friends like Joe Dunigan at Lucky J Farm and our fellow artisans at Gallatin’s Artisan Hatchery have definitely been instrumental in our continued learning, too. Several resources helped us get started, too, including Allan Dib’s One-Page Marketing Plan.

Website: http://www.scentofthesun.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/scentofthesun

Facebook: http://facebook.com/scentofthesunsoap

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scentofthesun

Image Credits
Rick and Kay Brown