Speaker 1: 0:31

My name is Taryn Barber, the name of the business is Acid Kitty Bath and Body, and what I do is make handmade bath and body products that are themed for different pop culture genres, episodes. For example, there was a Golden Girls collection where each one of the soaps was designed after one of the Golden Girls.

Speaker 2: 0:53

I love that.

Speaker 1: 0:54

That's so cool, yeah, and it's interesting because there's an element of nostalgia. So it's my target audience tends to be older, anywhere between usually between 30 and 50, sometimes down into the 20s people who remember things like the Golden Girls. I used to watch them on Good Times.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Yeah, all these references that you like to put in your soaps. I think that's amazing. You're also president of the Facebook group Amalgamania.

Speaker 1: 1:22

I am, I am. So Amalgamania is basically a nerd group. We have different segments that we run, all in relation to pop culture. So we have, for example, on Fridays, a battle segment called who Dares Wins, where different characters from movies, comic books et cetera are pitted in battles against each other. We also have an element for the ladies. We have a segment called Face Off, where we pick different characters and the challenge is to make yourself. It's kind of like a light cosplay, so you make yourself up like the character and then we take pictures and vote. So there's something for everyone. We tried to create a place where everybody feels welcomed.

Speaker 2: 2:01

No, I love that. I love inclusive spaces the best. I would like to get a background story on yourself, your business, how you came up with the name, what led you to where you are today? What led you to where you are?

Speaker 1: 2:14

today. Well, I think that in relation to, I guess, where it started, that led to this. I was an art major. In college, I was also an English major, so I was working on two degrees at the same time. I finished the English degree, I didn't finish the degree in art. I had a year left and I ended up becoming an English teacher. Fast forward about 20 years and, um, the the artist in me never left. So when I was a kid, I used to draw pictures from comic books um, particularly Batman. And when I was an art major in college, I focused on acrylic painting. I did charcoal, and creativity, or the act of creation, to me, is absolutely magical. Yeah, so that you can take a blank space and make something that wasn't there before. Yeah, so that has always appealed to me and it manifested in different ways. I did knitting for a while. I learned how to do nails Okay.

Speaker 2: 3:10

Multi-talented. Yes, exactly the artist, indeed never left.

Speaker 1: 3:14

Right. It's amazing because even thinking about it now, like I didn't realize, like I'm just piecing it together in my head, that that's what happened, that the artist just kept manifesting. So, in relation to Amalgamania and Acid Kitty, I was the president of Amalgamania first and I wanted to do something creative that was associated with the same pop culture themes that the group dealt with. So I thought what can I make? And my boss at the school that I worked in at the time gave us a Christmas gift one year of this lavender soap that he had made and I loved it and I thought maybe I can make soap. So I started looking into it and I saw all these amazing molds. I was like I can do a black widow soap that shakes like a spider, yeah, and the idea just went on from there.

Speaker 1: 4:00

When I started watching videos of people making cold process soap which is what this kind is it looks like painting. So the soap batter, when it's liquid, looks exactly like acrylic paint, yeah. And then when they pour it into the mold, it's like poor painting. And I was just, I was sold. You were sold, yeah. And then when they pour it into the mold, it's like poor painting, and I was just I was sold, I was absolutely sold.

Speaker 1: 4:18

So then it became a matter of deciding what I wanted the theme to be, and it's kind of a 70s vibe because I'm a 70s baby and instead of making like representative items for example, these two are from the Bikini Bottom Collection for Spongebob. Yes, exactly so instead of making a soap that looked like Spongebob, I just took the colors. Patrick, this one, exactly. So, this one is Patrick, and then this one is.

Speaker 1: 4:48

Squidward, exactly. And then I had one for Spongebob and one for Sandy, and on the top are seashells and pink for spongebob and one for sandy and on the top are seashells and, um, uh, pink, pink, halay, pink, himalayan salt. Okay, yes, it's salt. Um, for the sand on the beach. Um, so everything was just reference thematically yeah, design exactly this one. I wanted to look like a peacock. This was actually for a competition.

Speaker 1: 5:18

Oh it's really cool. It's very vibrant, thank you. And these two are actually more geared towards men. It has a more masculine scent. Yeah, so I do make products for both men and women, and everyone.

Speaker 2: 5:31

What about those two in the middle?

Speaker 1: 5:32

This one I made for there is a Soap Challenge Club competition where they have one every month. This one actually won the month that I entered. The challenge was oh, watermelon, we had to make watermelon soaps. So pretty broad category and I love Art Deco so I wanted to remind Art Deco with watermelon.

Speaker 1: 5:52

So this one took a while because each one of these individual layers had to be poured and then set so I would pour a layer and then wait for like an hour and then pour the next one and the soap mold which kind of looks like, um, a long box had to be tilted on an angle. Yeah, to create those specific lines, oh my goodness and this I recently started making um salt bar.

Speaker 1: 6:13

So this one is not representative of a character, it's just a mojito. It's a mojito scent and it's made with a 50% sea salt solution In addition to all the other oils and butters that I use. And we also have pink salts on the top. Love that and it smells exactly like a mojito. So this one is just like a color scent match.

Speaker 2: 6:34

I love that. And is the salt supposed to help like with the skin, like exfoliating and all that good?

Speaker 1: 6:38

stuff not so much exfoliation, but it detoxifies oh, okay so imagine it's like being in the sea. If you're in salt water, the same kind of effect it has on your skin. Yeah, that's what it does beautiful.

Speaker 2: 6:49

I love that. Thank you. What is the? I don't know that I could do that.

Speaker 1: 7:00

My gosh, I feel like I'd mess it up and be like darn it You're working from a, you're creating something in 3D, working from the top down, working from a 2D plane. So, for example, these two you pour it into the top of the mold and then it fills up. So you have to kind of envision what it'll look like once it's cut, because when you pull it out it's like this, but it stretches back this way and then you slice it. So I did a lot of research on different soap making techniques and designs. There's a lot of people I watched on YouTube and you mix the batter and pour differently based on the kind of effect that you want. Yeah, so this one was a hanger swirl, which is you layer the different colors in and then you take imagine if you take a wire coat hanger and untwist the top and stretch it out and then you just have that flat piece at the bottom, yeah, and you dip that in and you move it, whoa.

Speaker 1: 8:00

And it swirls the colors together.

Speaker 2: 8:02

Yeah, I can kind of see that in my head, the way you're making the pattern with that when you move it.

Speaker 1: 8:06

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 8:07

That's very cool. I never would have thought of that. I don't know much about soap making, but I always wonder how do they do that? And now I have an idea.

Speaker 1: 8:13

And then some like this one and this one. These were made from the top down, so with this one I had a separator in for each one of these different colors. And I pour them in, and then I pull the separators out, and then I took a skewer and stuck it in one end and just moved it back and forth.

Speaker 2: 8:29

And that's where all the colors are. I can see that.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Like that. That is so cool. And then, when you take it out, the loaf is this way, and you cut it in long strips first, and then you slice it into individual bars.

Speaker 2: 8:40

That's so cool. I always thought people made it like one by one, but now I see you get a big bar. We're smarter not smarter and just chop it like this Okay, very cool. I'd like to know about marketing. Like I see your logo and your design, it's very 70s, like you said eccentric, colorful, fun, happy. Are you on social media like making videos educating people about the type of bars of soaps that you have and like the collections and references Talk to me about?

Speaker 1: 9:07

that. Yeah, I am on Facebook and TikTok and Instagram. I post videos of me making the soap so you get to see it being poured, and then I usually do a part two where you see the soap actually being cut. I have videos where it's just me weighing out the ingredients, because a lot of research was done to decide which ingredients to put into the soap. So soap is basically sodium hydroxide or lye, and oils or a fat. So in making it you decide which types of oils and butters you want to use.

Speaker 1: 9:40

So my soap I have sweet almond oil, coconut oil, castor oil, shea butter and shiraya butter and each one of them has different properties. So I thought about what I wanted the effect to be on the skin and that's how I decided. So I have videos where I showed myself weighing out all those different ingredients and melting them down, et cetera. I've done videos just to talk about the different collections, talk about the ingredients. I've done videos just to talk about the different collections, talk about the ingredients. I have one video go viral on TikTok. It's currently at 3 million views.

Speaker 2: 10:12

Talk to me about it.

Speaker 1: 10:13

How did you do that for business?

Speaker 2: 10:14

owners who are like tell me the secret please.

Speaker 1: 10:16

I wish there was a secret. It makes absolutely no sense. So all the videos that I make where I'm like showing off the pretty soaps and I make body butters too and sugar scrubs, nice, so I show myself piping those into jars, et cetera, the one that went viral was a video of me showing how I prepare shipping boxes. Okay, so I have. I was using an embossing stamp at the time and I have one with my Ask, a Kitty logo, and I stamped it on the box. And then there's this gold embossing powder that you sprinkle over it. So the stamp it's a glue, not ink. So you stamp the logo in glue on the box, sprinkle the embossing powder over it, shake off the excess and then take a heat gun and heat up the powder and it turns into this like bright, shimmery gold. And I made this video. It was like 10 o'clock at night. I was sitting on the side of my bed. I was tired.

Speaker 2: 11:06

Of all times and places.

Speaker 1: 11:07

And I didn't want to do it. I was like you know what, I'll just do it, see what happens. So I did. I posted this video and it went viral very slowly. So at first it was maybe a few hundred views and then it started to increase.

Speaker 2: 11:24

I think after two days it was at like 10,000 and then it just going up and I had to turn the notifications off on my phone because it was too much all the time, yeah and I got an influx of orders for the store, which was really cool wow I think I sold out the store.

Speaker 1: 11:35

Um, when I did that? And because all the products are handmade, everything is limited. Um, yeah, 90% of the soaps only make one time and there's about 10 bars. Oh, wow, very limited, yeah, and then that's it. So the store sold out from people placing orders and I have again about 30,000 followers from that video and I still have about 30,000 on TikTok to this day. So it's totally unpredictable. So if I had to choose a video that would go viral, it would not have been that one.

Speaker 2: 12:09

Yeah, that's the thing with social media you never know, and that goes to show that business owners or anybody who has a business that they want to get out there, just make content and put it out there, because you never know when it might take off. And sometimes, yeah, it's slowly going, but then, like you got your 30,000 followers from that, you've sold out.

Speaker 2: 12:28

Like the benefits are so cool once you know how to play the game there and just put content out there, like even if you don't know, you're putting stuff out there, right? So that is amazing, and I'm so glad that you were able to tell me about this, because I don't think I've had a guest yet who's had a video that's gone viral to my knowledge, that they've shared. So that is amazing. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. No problem, where do you see yourself in the next five years, with yourself and with your business?

Speaker 1: 12:54

Oh, with myself, I am in my full-time job. I'm an instructional coach. I see myself probably continuing to do that. I help teachers form goals for their students within the juvenile justice system. So I work for the state of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services and I go to different facilities and help the teachers there create goals for their students to help them to move forward. So I see myself continuing to do that because I do love that job. And with Acid Kitty, I see myself expanding. So I currently make, as I said, the soap. I make body butters and sugar scrubs and they come in collections so, like this, one is scented in strawberry, so there was a matching sugar scrub, a matching body spray and a body lotion and all of those sold out. So I just currently have soap in stock right now, but I see myself expanding into that. I'm restocking within the next month or so body butters for the winter. I make a triple butter made with mango butter, shea butter and sherry butter. That feels absolutely amazing on the skin.

Speaker 2: 14:00

You should do a peppermint one.

Speaker 1: 14:01

Yeah. I actually have. I made a soap that was called Andy's and I designed it to look like Andy's mints, and it was a chocolate, peppermint soap.

Speaker 2: 14:10

Girl, I would eat that Instead of putting it on my body. I feel like I was reading the description of the salt and I was like this is making me hungry, like I want to eat the barf soap, like eating Tide Pods. No, forget it. All the rage is eating Ac.

Speaker 1: 14:23

I put in the description. It says do not ingest Exactly.

Speaker 2: 14:27

Exactly For that purpose. Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1: 14:30

Yeah, I see myself continuing and coming up with different theme collections, basically just staying the course, trying out different techniques. We have, at Ask Kitty in Amalkamania, have a t-shirt business that we are on the verge of starting called the Lost Tribe, a t-shirt business that we are on the verge of starting called the lost tribe. So, and because I love creating things and designing things, I'm looking forward to seeing how it manifests in terms of clothing design.

Speaker 2: 14:55

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:56

And so we're going to be doing that as well, so pressing forward with the things we're already having in motion and then continuing to expand. One day in the future, hopefully, there will be a brick and mortar store, or you can Acid Kitty products in stores, so that is a long range plan.

Speaker 2: 15:12

Well, that is so cool. I'm glad that you've thought about that. I think that's brilliant and I hope that it happens for you, I love that I would like to ask, as a business owner, how are you finding time and setting boundaries for yourself with your current full-time job? Been setting boundaries for yourself, like with your current full-time job with Acid Kitty and now with your new clothing line coming up like how do you find the time? Or how are you balancing and juggling it all?

Speaker 1: 15:36

I have learned that having a schedule is best, so there has to be some type of organization. Things have to be combined or prepped where necessary. For example, when I'm making soaps, I measure out all of the ingredients for five different batches at once and that's just that. First I just measure out everything and have it setting to the side so that when I'm ready to make it it's already there.

Speaker 1: 15:59

And it cuts back time on that. We have certain things that happen around the same time every month. For example, a Malga Show and Tell, which Ian Wallace does with his son, malek Wallace, happens around the third week of every month, so that's like an earmarked portion of time. We know that there's the filming and then I do the editing for that show, so that's between two and three days. That's blocked off for that. Locked off for that. Okay, um, as far as like when I get home from work, meal prepping, when it's possible, doing things in the crock pot, I'm thinking in advance of what I'm going to make each day so that it's not a question when I come home, what?

Speaker 2: 16:38

I'm going to do.

Speaker 1: 16:39

Um, I don't get a whole lot of sleep, maybe about four or five hours a night girl, oh my goodness, because there's a job and then you come home and you make meals and you do chores, laundry, et cetera, whatever. And then you get into the video editing or the social media or the making of products, and I find that the social media aspect of it actually takes the most time because there's the constant promotions and posting and bumping posts.

Speaker 2: 17:07

And replying to people and interacting with them.

Speaker 1: 17:09

Exactly, exactly yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:11

No, I love that. But it sounds like this is your passion, because if you're barely sleeping, that means you're kind of excited, like, oh my gosh, I got to get this done, I got to go do this. I feel like you just have this excitement for your company and all your endeavors.

Speaker 1: 17:23

I do, I do endeavors, I do, I do, and where there's a will, there's a way, exactly, and you have to find a way to get it done. So you make time where you can and you find ways to do it, yeah for sure.

Speaker 2: 17:34

Is there anything that maybe I have not touched on that you would like to share as far as your business goes, or yourself for listeners?

Speaker 1: 17:43

No actually pretty much covered. Everything I feel like how I feel about the business and what I'm doing comes across in the way that I speak about it.

Speaker 1: 17:51

Yes, Unintentionally, it just kind of happens because I am so excited about it and passionate, it's fun and it's exciting. I've always thought that the 40-hour work week was a scam. Still is. So I think about, like, what are we meant to do with our lives? Like, do I want to wake up one day when I'm 80 and all I did was go to work every day Nine to five, come home Nine to five, come home and not indulge any creativity that I have or produce anything? Yeah, so this is so that that regret does not happen later. Like I'm doing the things that I'm passionate about and taking the time to spend on it, and it is exhausting and it can be tedious, but it's fun and it's rewarding and it's fulfilling.

Speaker 2: 18:35

No, I can definitely see that and literally the passion that you pour into these soaps, literally like it's amazing, and the fact that you come up with the themes, and I think you should do like a month, like a fun month theme or something that would be cool, like this is Gemini theme, this is the Gemini, so this is the Taurus. I've thought about that.

Speaker 1: 18:53

Right, I've thought about, yeah, doing a Zodiac collection. Absolutely. I think a lot of people would love that. That is the plan for the future and it goes down to the packaging, the types of boxes that I use. All of that is in line with the different themes, the little stickers that I include, the thank you cards. All of it matches, yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:13

Love it. If there is anything that you could leave our listeners with, like, maybe you have a saying or a mantra that has inspired you throughout your life, would you mind sharing that with us to use as inspiration? Sure.

Speaker 1: 19:25

I think my favorite is from Marcus Aurelius, and he said what is there in this that is unbearable or beyond endurance? And the answer to that is always nothing. It is either you can either endure or you can bear it. So when things get really really hard, really stressed out, I repeat that to myself and I think nothing I will get through. This Time will pass. Regardless of whatever it is we're going through, whatever challenges we're facing, time continues to pass anyway.

Speaker 2: 19:55

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 19:56

So keep pushing forward, you keep moving, and whatever the struggle is, it'll pass, because time you'll get over it at some point.

Speaker 2: 20:06

You'll get through it at some point even if you don't know how.

Speaker 1: 20:08

Yes, it will happen, so there is nothing that is unbearable or beyond endurance.

Speaker 2: 20:12

That's so beautiful. Thank you. I appreciate you coming on the podcast and sharing your story.

Speaker 1: 20:17

Thank you so much for having me. It was really awesome to be here, absolutely.