Many people have asked me how and why I came up with Bethesda soaps. If you take a look at the photo here you will know many of my secrets and inspirations.
My Mother owned a florist and also had an amazing flower garden. I would sit on the top of our Mimosa tree and watch and listen! I learned that herbs and flowers have great healing properties.
My Dad also owned a farm center and we grew potatoes for various companies. I sometimes would work in the summer on the harvester and sit with Dad while he finished up his work. Our farm center had all kinds of things so I would walk around and read. My Dad taught me that what we eat matters to our health... So it hit me, what we put on our skin matters as well.
I learned a lot about the soil and how things grow in order to give us nutrients. My Dad was also a cotton farmer, along with my Mother's Dad. I grew to love this earth that God made and all that it could grow and do.
My sister Melanie was a Bible teacher and elementary school teacher and tried to teach me tennis. She ended up teaching me that love never fails and we all have different gifts. We figured out I was better at making things than tennis!
This brings me to my sister Karen who can bake anything. She knows how to make ingredients work! That stuck with me, but more in line with organic chemistry. I finally ended up at Auburn University where I met people to encourage me to take my childhood teachings and make something to help people. Thank you Dr. Clarence Brown and Dr. Randell McDaniel... Being in your rehab classes taught me what is possible!
Everything in this photo means something to me ! My Dad had apple trees and a rose garden of his own. So in our soaps you will find essential rose oil and good stuff that God put in apples. The Rose of Sharon or Althea flower lined our yard, and I used to sit under it and ponder God and how he made this amazing earth! Yes we have 50 vitamins, amino acids, healing balm of Gilead and other good things for your skin! Our skin, the largest organ on our body, deserves to be protected...
Only a farmer's daughter would get that by seeing their Dad's rough sun tanned farmers hands and cheeks! My Daddy still farms and my Mom still grows the most amazing flowers! My sister Karen is still the best baker I know !
And my sister Melanie is in heaven, and she is the heart print of our company. She passed of cancer a few years ago and we decided to give free bars in her honor to cancer patients!
It is the team of Bethesda that makes this company so special! Peggy, our designer. Kyle, our attorney who keeps us in line! My husband, Jeremy, who tells me I can when I feel like I can't! And Geoff, a man who believes in the product and knows how to sell, but cares for our cancer patients by talking to each one of them !
To my best friends from college, Britt and Audrey Hancock of Mountain Gateway Ministries, who have carried the soap all over the world. Thank you! When I was about to close my company you came to my home and changed my mind and gave me hope... I love you and your children!
And to you, Dr. Terri Allen, goes the center of my heart. You took time to teach me, give me books and answer my questions! And God used you to save Jeremy's life! Thank you for being a doctor who loves and cares.
Most of all I have two Precious children, Elijah 11 and Tova who just turned 10... They inspire me daily and I want for them to know that to love and to try is to make a difference! So when you use our soaps, yes you get patented technology but you also get little pieces of our hearts and prayers for good health! Fortify!! Defend!! Protect!!
Jamie Collins Doss
CEO, Bethesda skincare