Today we’d like to introduce you to Joy Edwards.
Hi Joy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In 2015, I discovered my passion for cold process soap and cosmetics making while researching natural remedies to treat my damaged hair and scalp after suffering from chemical burns from a perm. Using chemical-laden products to treat a chemical burn on my scalp just didn’t make sense to me; I knew in my heart there had to be a better alternative.
At that time, the natural hair community was just beginning to grow, therefore, the options for natural products were few, to say the least, so I took to reading and researching everything I could find on natural herbs, butters, and oils looking specifically for natural hair and skin care products.
Not finding anything that truly fit my needs, I selected butters and oils that ranged from light and easily absorbed, to some that were a bit heavier yet nourishing and moisturizing that provided protection from the elements to experiment with.
After a lot of research and testing, I came up with a combination I loved, but it needed some fine-tuning. One day, I happened across a handmade cosmetics and soap-making studio not far from my home in San Diego and signed up for the first available class which was Cold Process Soap Making 101, and my life was forever changed!
I was hooked on soap making just minutes into the class! Afterward, I was able to speak to the instructor and explain my situation with my recipe and she gave me a couple of suggestions. I went home and immediately started tweaking my recipe and several days later, my infamous body butter was born!
It’s nourishing, moisturizing, and versatile. I’ve had a client and her daughters lovingly refer to it as “hair crack”! Although I created it specifically for my scalp, I love it on my body and face! It’s a simple yet amazing formula that’s hydrating and perfect for all skin types!
I’ve been a soap maker for over five years now, and I just can’t see myself doing anything else. My family and I have very sensitive skin so making beautiful, high-quality, luxurious handcrafted soaps and another natural bath, body, and self-care products to share with my family and yours is not only my passion but my obsession!
I love reading about the amazing plants, herbs, oils, and butters nature has to offer that benefit our skin, bodies, and overall health and incorporating them into my formulations.
I am truly blessed to have been able to discover my passion and turn it into a business. It brings great joy to my heart to be able to share my creations with others, especially those who suffer from dry, itchy, and sensitive skin.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey has not been easy by any means.
As an entrepreneur, my team was comprised of me, Google, and YouTube! Any questions I had, any tech I needed to learn to use and implement I figured it all out online, just me and my online “team”.
I learned a lot researching everything online, but I could only take myself so far. I struggled a lot, made lots of mistakes, and made very little progress doing everything on my own. I endured my sleepless nights and long exhausting days. I even gave up and quit a few times. Not that anyone noticed because I wasn’t getting any sales, but it only lasted a few days and without realizing it, I was back on my computer researching, looking for answers to my questions, trying different things to see if any of my ideas to push my business forward would work. Some did, but most didn’t.
I didn’t start making any real progress until I started working with a business coach. I could not believe just how much I didn’t know. From social media, marketing, market research, and the list goes on and on, I had no clue as to how absolutely clueless I was!
With the teaching, guidance, and help of my business coach, I’ve grown from being invisible online and my only revenue coming from the occasional orders from my family to having an evergrowing online presence, receiving huge orders from insurance companies such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield to be used as gifts for the participants at their upcoming Breast Cancer Awareness event this October, to having private label and wholesale clients. My products will also be featured in the celebrity swag bags at the “Shades of Melanin” Celebrity Fashion Show taking place during the BET Hip Hop Music Awards weekend in Atlanta this September!
My products have made it onto the radar and into the hands of celebrity teams like Sara Jakes Roberts, Kierra Sheard, Tamera Mowry-Housely, and Tiffany Haddish to name just a few! I’m finally making progress and growing in ways that I’ve only dreamed of!
A lot has changed since 2014, when I started my business in the tiny kitchen of my small apartment in San Diego. I’ve since relocated to Henderson, Nevada where I have a bit more space for my family and for the business to keep growing and flourishing, and I have a wonderful business coach and friend to help me and hold my hand through it all.
My journey started off very rocky and I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it, but now that I have a proper, well-equipped team, I’m able to better trust the process and enjoy my journey which is just beginning!
We’ve been impressed with Sweet Surrender, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I have suffered from dry, itchy, and sensitive skin all my life. As a child, my mom loved “Zest” soap, but it was so harsh and drying to my skin. She later switched me to Ivory because it was supposed to be “so pure it floats”, but it floated me right into dry, ashy skin.
Over the years, I found a few brands that would allow me to manage my days without scratching my skin to shreds, but I was always dry and ashy and that was embarrassing.
When I formulated my products and developed my brand, I knew I had to specialize in and cater to women suffering from the same issues as me, dry, itchy, sensitive skin, but the products had to be pretty and look, feel, and smell luxurious.
My tagline is “Spa Quality Bath & Body Care” because that’s exactly the type of experience I want to provide. So many times products made for those with sensitive skin are plain and don’t smell like much of anything other than the ingredients used to make them.
Women work hard inside and outside of their homes. Their schedules are so jammed-packed and hectic that there’s not much time for a trip to the spa and if there is, do they really want to rush to get there and then rush home to take care of everything that’s there waiting for them? Not so much. All that rushing, not to mention the traffic to get home has negated all the benefits of going to the spa in the first place!
For most women, the only place they are truly undisturbed is their bathroom so why not turn it into a personal oasis for as long as you need? There’s no fight for parking, no traffic to deal with (other than your family’s foot traffic going by trying to be nosy) and there’s no one rushing them to leave to keep from going over their scheduled appointment time.
Having the ability to care for your whole self without irritation to your skin is vital and Sweet Surrender gets it. We are very intentional about all the ingredients selected not just for our products but for the health and vitality of our customer’s skin.
We believe every woman should use products that smell and feel pretty and make her look, smell, and feel her most beautiful best. To accomplish this, we use skin-loving, soothing, and calming ingredients such as colloidal oatmeal, goat milk, tussah silk (silk amino acid) Shea, and Mango butter to nourish, hydrate, and moisturize the skin, and skin-safe fragrances and colors to create beautiful and luxurious aromatherapy experiences.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
My Christian faith and beliefs have fortified me mentally, emotionally, and in every other way possible!
God continues to bless me and fill me with hope and determination so that even on my worst days, I still find the strength to get up and keep going.
When things start getting tough and I can’t see my way through, a blessing, whether it be a call from my business coach, words of encouragement from my children, an order, or an opportunity such as this interview, no matter what it is, God sends something or someone my way to push me through and pull me out to the other side.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sweet-surrender.biz/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweet_surrender_co/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/4sweetsurrender
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEFbsAV5PyEITSJNoVIb7Cw
