About Anne-Marie Faiola, Teach Soap Founder
Anne-Marie has been making soaps and toiletries since she was 16. Always a crafty girl (she knits, makes paper and handmade cards, and also rubber stamps), she settled on soaps and never looked back. Anne-Marie started selling her handmade soap creations in Chehalis, Washington at the age of 18 to the gift store Traver’s Electric and continued to expand her clientele throughout college.
After college and a brief unsuccessful stint as a correctional officer, she founded Bramble Berry Inc. to sell quality raw materials (including butters, oils, fragrance oils and colors) to the soap and toiletries makers of the world. Now in its 11th year of business, Bramble Berry serves over 33,000 customers world wide and has been featured in magazines such as Women’s World Daily, Herb Companion, HomeArts, Parents Guide, Herb Quarterly, Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications and mentioned in Cosmo Girl, Teen Vogue and Allure Magazine. Anne-Marie has also appeared as a repeat guest on the Martha Stewart Radio show, Disney Radio and numerous TV shows, including DIY’s Craft Lab and Home Shopping Network.
In 2003, Anne-Marie founded Otion – the Soap Bar in Bellingham, WA (recently rebranded as Bramble Berry Handcraft Provisions)to bring her love of soapmaking and all things bath related to the public. Otion proselytizes soap through classes, parties and a full sniffing bar and make-it-now soap bar.
In addition to running Otion and Bramble Berry, Anne-Marie loves helping out the soap community through this instructional site www.teachsoap.com and spends and spends many hours every week providing soap making tips and answering questions on her blog www.soapqueen.com.
Anne-Marie has appeared on the Home Shopping Network, the Fox Network and on the DIY Network (Craft Lab) as well as countless magazine articles (Inc. Magazine and Fortune Small Business Magazine are the two she is most excited about) and newspapers. She also has enjoyed giving talks at the Handcrafted Soap Guild Convention and at the Texas Soapmaker’s Convention.
