Holly

Holly was my hero.

When I decided to start a YouTube channel, I knew I needed help. I hired my friend Donna DeRosa to coach me.

One of the first questions Donna asked me was “Who in the soap making community do you admire most?”

The truth is, there are so many people I admire. I am a self taught soap maker, but when I found La Shonda Tyree was giving classes at The Open Center in NY, I took the class. Twice. I had been making soap 8 years at that point and knew no one else who made it. La Shonda had a business making soap. She opened up the possibilities of soap making to me.

At that point I got myself on this new thing called the internet and found Marla Bosworth. At the time, she was living in the Boston area. I was thinking of taking a trip so I could take some classes with her. When she came down to NYC to do classes I was excited, and when she asked me to be her assistant when she came back to NYC, I couldn’t believe my luck. More people to share my passion with! Marla gave me the confidence I needed to start my business.

I started going to soap conferences. I met hundreds of other soap makers, and at one of them I met Holly Port.

Holly owned Lotion Bar Cafe. She was fearless, up for anything and a beacon of positivity. Make it Fizz was her book. Soap for Soup was inspired by her Trash Soap.

She said yes, and figured it out later, always jumping in two feet first. Her deep faith in God ran through everything she did.

I want to be like that.

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela