Press Release
On Sunday, August 9th, local best selling soapmaker Andrea Davis pressed go on the $15,000 Kickstarter to help move her business, Motherland Essentials, into a new space. By September, the project was fully funded and Davis became the owner/operator of the first Black-owned soap warehouse in Summerville.
Davis' love for soap making came after the traumatic loss of her son in utero. When she realized that the job she was working in wouldn't be giving her adequate time to grieve nor would they treat her with care, she took her power back by turning her kitchen into a space to cope. Instead of food, she found care in mixing batches of soap and other bath products, making things for her family and friends to care for themselves with. In 2017, this coping mechanism grew into a business with a name: Motherland Essentials.
That business grew beyond the kitchen of their single family home and into the garage since then, but by mid 2020 Davis knew she needed more space. With the support of her community she launched her kickstarter, got it funded and began the process of moving her business to its new home.
In the past few months since then, Davis has been able to provide local pickups and COVID-19 safe shopping days for her community, as well as begin to hire a small team to help expand the operation. They've worked tirelessly through the holiday season to make sure people who couldn't see their families at least got to gift them the gift of self care and to transform their new space into a comforting shopping experience.
“We worked so hard the past few months in between orders to build our space out and we're super excited to celebrate this moment with our community,” Davis said.
The ribbon cutting will take place at their warehouse on Friday, January 8th, 2021 at noon. The City of Summerville will be officiating. Though people are not allowed inside of the building for safety reasons, they welcome all to come and witness this moment.
For more information on Motherland Essentials visit their website www.motherlandessentials.com
