In this third of four back-to-back episodes about people who make personal care products, Tania Teschke explains how many roads from childhood through adulthood have led her to become a home-based entrepreneur. This includes a do-it-yourself mindset, a passion for mixing, and a diverse set of skills, including cooking, soap- and balm-making, writing, photography, wrapping, and, perhaps most importantly, being a mom, that enabled her to launch her business earlier this year.
Tania is the daughter of German immigrants to the U.S. and has lived much of her life abroad. This includes time in Kazakhstan, Russia, France, and Switzerland. She has approached these adventures with open eyes and a desire to learn as much as she could from others. Over the years, she has viewed the world through the lens of a camera and has enjoyed writing. She has also taken long courses on cooking, wine, soap making; apprenticed with an organic butcher who taught her many things, including how to wrap meat (we’ll come back to that); and developed an appreciation for traditional cultures.
But it was when Tania became a parent that she started thinking about better ways to feed and care for her family. This included deeper exploration of traditional foods, including the benefits of products such as animal fats for healthy skin and bodies. With this quest on her mind, and in living in Bordeaux, France, with exposure to some of the best food and wine in the world, Tania wrote the best-selling book, The Bordeaux Kitchen, a few years ago.
Since then, Tania has continued to build on her foundational knowledge and interests to create a new balm and soap-making business, Bordeaux Kitchen Naturals. Tania always knew shew wanted to start a production business, and her family’s move back to the U.S. last year made the decision more practical. She knew it would be easier logistically and more cost effective to set up a business and ship products in the U.S. than elsewhere in the world. She started with various cream recipes that she has created over time and has now built soaps in her product list—most of which included animal fats such as tallow. And with the continuing flare for writing and photography, excellent staging, and simple wrapping techniques (from her past apprenticeship!), she has built a professional Etsy site in record time.
Although sales are not yet where Tania wants them to be, she has a clear vision for where she wants to go and explains the next steps in her journey.
You can find out more about Tania’s soap and balm business, among her many other interests, at https://bordeauxkitchen.com as well as purchase her products at her Etsy store, https://www.etsy.com/shop/BordeauxKitchen.
For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, and check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/.