Life & Work with Victoria, Constance, and Johanna Van Klompenburg

Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria, Constance and Johanna Van Klompenburg.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
A few years ago, a number of our family members were diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). We quickly started Speech and O.T. services to try to catch up on the missed early intervention that is so critical. One of our kiddos was at O.T. and did not want to participate in working on her executive functioning. Her mom who is a special education teacher, cut her a deal: Once we find an activity that she likes to work on we will stop services and replace it with the new activity. One day we went to a soap store and once inside, she lit up. This was the activity! We jumped on the ability to work on her planning/prioritizing, organization, time management and sustained attention. Soap making is a very precise activity that required every skill that she needed to strengthen. After working on these skills, we thought – how can we use these new skills to BLESS others. After realizing all of the sensory needs of many of our friends, we had an aha moment. We would make fun soap for kids that don’t want to bathe and try our best to make it as natural as possible. Then we would make some soap for the parents too. This is how Pigtails Soapery was born. We hope that you and your child(ren) will enjoy these soaps as much as we enjoy making them for you.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road. After the first year, COVID hit and all of the fairs and boutique sales had closed their doors. We used the face to face opportunity as a means of therapy. The girls would get practice with dialogue, answering questions, speaking loudly so that others could hear them and making some eye contact. Our tax accountant told us that we would have to get our product online or we would have to close our doors. We have been forced to grow and learn new computer skills, which has actually proven to be a blessing.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
All three of the girls are full-time students. Two of them are in elementary school and one just started high school. We are proud of them in the fact that they are able to use their creative skills to create and design soaps. They are able to give back to the community (they donate soap to a food bank to go into personal hygiene packs). In 2021 they are going to use Shea butter from global mamas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYe1lqKSuVM&feature=emb_title They are set apart in a number of ways. 1) The cold processed soap that they make is used with organic olive oil and organic coconut oil. The skin is the largest organ and our family believes that we should take care of it in the right way. 2) They agreed that we should have a top-notch product that people could afford even if they didn’t make a great profit. 3) They are kids and know what other kids like to use. 4) Having a disability doesn’t mean that you can’t do things that other people can do. The girls are learning at a young age to use their special gifts and what it is to be entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Playing Legos and Minecraft, gathering leaves and jumping in the piles, camping trips.

Pricing:

• $ 6.00 for a bar of soap
• $ 6.00 for a bag of Truffles
• $ 6.00 for a solid lotion bar
• $5.00 for a bath tea

Contact Info:

• Email: pigtailssoapery@gmail.com
• Website: pigtailssoapery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pigtailssoapery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PigtailsSoapery
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PigtailsSoapery
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6gY6parO_qs-HeOOIqGsw