An Interview with Jessie Veselka, Owner of BeYOUtiful Bath Bombs and More
Posted by Annie Krejci on
We love our local partners and their stories! There is so much that goes on behind the scenes of these local Spokane small businesses. We want you to get to know them and their stories too.
Meet Jessie Vekelka, the owner of BeYOUtiful Bath Bombs and More.
Q: What inspired you to start making all-natural bath products?
J: My youngest brother was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer three years ago, and when this happened I went into “fix” it mode I guess you could call it and started doing research on all the things we consume and how they relate and can cause cancer. Obviously food is a huge factor but it was so interesting to learn that 99% of the bath and beauty products that are being used contain a gross amount of disturbing ingredients... with your skin being your largest organ in your body it’s easy to see how all these toxic ingredients just soak into your skin and get into your bloodstream so quickly.
So we started there, I started making natural skin care and Bath products in my house. Perfecting recipes to where my whole family would use them and love them.
Bath bombs kind of took off and stole the show of our brand because my brother loved to take a good bath after his chemo and radiation treatments and he was a big fan (and critic) of our bath bombs. It was important to me that they were made right with the best ingredients and a lot of Epsom salts to help his achy body.
I also wanted to have products that everybody could afford regularly. Most products that are “good for you” are marked up at an incredible rate making it real easy for you to choose the other product because it’s cheaper and fits into your budget.
Q:From the viewpoint of a local business owner, what are some of the greatest benefits of shopping local?
J: Shopping local is so great, for one you get this close and personal shopping experience that you just don’t get at say Target. You know that someone is behind the scenes working their butt off all hours of the day to make this amazing place for people to come and have an experience. Whether that is a local restaurant, salon, boutique or bath and beauty store.
I know a lot of small business owners and they are some of the most kind and hard working people I have ever met.
Local businesses are part of our community, they care. They are the ones donating to schools fundraisers, sporting teams, and silent auctions.
I challenge you all to do a comparison someday. Go shop or eat at a big chain and then stop by a similar place that is local and if you can’t feel the difference I would be shocked. Shopping local is getting that warm fuzzy feeling and being truly happy with your shopping experience.
Also knowing that us business owners don’t have million dollar homes or flying private jets to extravagant vacations. We are people just like in our community, driving used cars, paying our mortgage, hustling our kids carpools after school! I think that it is important to know when shopping local. There is a face and a family behind each business.
Q: What is your favorite bath bomb and shower cake?
J: This is a hard question being that I make all of them and love them all for one reason or another!
But I would have to say I love all of our seasonal bath bombs the best. Because they are very uniquely made to match the season or holiday and they are just so fun!
However, my all time favorite (and our best seller) is the Milk and Honey!
As far as shower cakes go, Eucalyptus and Lemon are my top favorites! I love using them as a body scrub as well when they have melted down a bit!
If you haven’t tried one I highly recommend it.
Q: You started up an indoor market at the Northtown Mall earlier this year. Tell us about that. What made you want to start this? What was your favorite part?
J: Yes! We started the BeYOUtiful Indoor Local Market in February of this year. We saw so many struggling local businesses due to Covid. A lot of local businesses rely on events and shows that were all being canceled over the past year.
As things started opening back up slowly we saw the space and the opportunity to utilize the mall and give these businesses a warm and safe space to set up on the weekends.
Though our market started off small it was so amazing to see how excited our community was to see so many local businesses in their mall.
We are hoping to continue to be Spokane’s indoor local market from November-April. So if you didn’t get a chance to visit this spring come back this fall/winter.
Q: How many bath products does BeYOUtiful make? What is the best seller?
J: We make around 15 different items... and each item has 20 plus scent options. We have over 70 scent options for our bath bombs
Our best seller still continues to be our bath bombs, however our Bubble Bath and Candles are creeping up on the top sellers list!
Q: From what we can see on social media, as well as what we can feel when we come into your store, you seem to have a wonderful team. Tell us what you do to create this kind of environment.
J: Our team is the absolute best!! We really are a big family around here. I don’t know that it’s anything that I do per say... each team member genuinely loves our products, our mission and what we are all about! None of our customer service is fake, we don’t try to sell you on our products we LOVE to educate you on our products and I think that makes a big difference in the feel of our store.
Something I do with our team is let them have a voice in our business, I encourage them to come up with ideas and if it’s doable we always try it. If our customers love it, then GREAT we keep it! If it wasn’t a good seller we try something new... but the point is we tried it. It gives them skin in the game and it encourages them to keep thinking outside of the box and bring out their entrepreneurial skills they maybe didn’t know they had!
I always say they are the boss around here... I just pay the bills because without them and their love and passion for our company and our customers we wouldn’t be where we are today!
Q: Do you have any product deals or new happenings you'd like to share?
J: Well I’m super super excited to let everyone know we have just launched a ton of new items over the past few months!
We now carry; Wood Wick Candles, Body Wash, Lotions and our own bar soap! So many new things that we have been working on for a long time that have all come together and are officially out on the shelves!
We use to change sales monthly but after we opened back up after covid we decided it would be easier and best for everyone if we just have 1 sale that is consistent always!
So anytime you come in or shop online you can always get our Buy 4 get 1 FREE MIX AND MATCH sale!! Mix any of our BeYOUTIFUL items equal or lesser value and get 1 on us!
If you haven't tried any of BeYOUtiful's wonderful bath products, now is the time! All of their products are wonderful, unique, and good for your skin. You will never look at bath products the same again!
Weav feels honored to have Jessie, her team, and BeYOUtiful as a local partner. You can find BeYOUtiful bath products in these Weav gifts: