Meet Karen & Chris Sanchez | Creators of Early Girl Creations

We had the good fortune of connecting with Karen & Chris Sanchez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Karen & Chris, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Our thought process was to create the best of a product that people use on a daily basis and sell it by educating. This line of all natural products is called Early Girl Creations. We apply the garden to shower approach creating products such as soaps, lotions, body oils and cosmetics using garden grown ingredients grown by Early Girl Gardens at The Soap Factory in Logan Heights, San Diego. My husband Chris, the other half of Early Girl Creations also specializes in designing spaces and turning them into edible Art pieces. He grows many of the herbs that I use for distillation and for creation of our products.

All of Early Girl Creations products are scented with essential oils (not synthetic fragrances). Many people are unaware of the high amounts of toxins that conventional products have. What we do is provide a solution to a problem. What problem that is? To make it possible for people to have access to an all natural product that is free of toxins and in addition assisting in detoxifying. All of our soaps are formulated with an ingredient called bentonite clay. Bentonite clay has been known to remove impurities such as heavy metals from the body. Our skin is the largest organ, therefore it is essential to be conscious of what we apply to our skin.
When our second born was a baby (about 12 years ago), he suffered from severe eczema. What the doctors were prescribing as the best product out there, was really not! The steroid creams and conventional soaps recommended provided little to no alleviation. When learning about ingredients we discovered the importance of reading the labels and researching ingredients. To our surprise, it was very difficult for us to find a product that didn’t contain sulfates, synthetic fragrances or colorants that are known to be hormone disruptors. This led us to a path of learning how to grow our own food and in this case creating an all natural product to help our son. We began experimenting and formulated a soap that led to our son’s condition drastically improving. Our first creation was created, our Avelander(oatmeal/lavender) face & body soap was born.
We never thought of it as a business until one day my husband Chris was out on disability due to a bells palsy episode. We were invited to set up at a local farmers market(in our hometown, Imperial Valley), in 2015, which was our first pop up. The response was great! People in our area were responsive to our products. From then on we began to venture out and set up at different functions traveling to different cities. This venture bringing us to San Diego.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, we were very nervous because all of our functions came to a stop. At that time Early Girl Creations was our only source of income. however; my husband Chris took this as an opportunity to offer his services of creating vegetable gardens in peoples homes. From that Early Girl Gardens was born.
In 2021 we came across an opportunity to open up a space for us to create and sell our products in Logan Heights. Thanks to the Artistic vision of the property owners, we were given the freedom to create a space for local Artists and creatives to come and share their talents. This space has come to be The Soap Factory event space.

Nutrition & wellbeing has and continues to be part of the journey. It’s a lifestyle!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets us apart from other similar businesses is the fact that we really know our product. We formulate each one of our soaps/products with a blend of ingredients that all have a purpose. We are very proud to have transmuted a negative experience into a craft/business. We take pride in knowing how to grow and distill some of our ingredients to implement in our products. Truly, Garden to Shower Experience!
We are proud to be in a position to educate others. We now host soapmaking and gardening classes for kids. Parents or schools are able to bring their kids to The Soap Factory and they get to make their own custom soap and learn about ingredients. They also get to learn about the importance of composting, planting seeds on a raised bed garden and get to take a seasonal seedling with them.
Along the way we have learned that consistency is key! There are times that self doubt can invade the mind. We have learned that everything is temporary and when you apply devotion, passion and faith, the right doors will open.
We would like the world to know that our mission was to leave the world better that how we found it! To create a movement where Art, culture, sustainability and wellbeing is reflected in a line of products #SOWTHEEARTH

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would definitely take them to The Soap Factory, which is a unique event venue situated in Logan Heights. It combines vintage industrial esthetics with modern functionality. There they can have the option of eating wood oven pizza from Suncoast Pizza or birria tacos made with avocado oil made from Wet Tacos while being able to enjoy a drink from the bar. We would try to plan it to where either a jazz night, salsa night,or a fashion show is taking place. There they can get a taste of the rich culture that is embedded from the neighborhood, waiting for one of our many friends with lowriders to show up and steal the show with their rolling Art piece on wheels.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to anyone who has purchased our products, shared our stories, & opened their space for us to sell our products. We thank you!
It is because of the people that have supported our vision that we are able to continue doing what we do!

Much appreciation!
To the Logan Heights community & The Soap Factory Team!

Website: https://www.earlygirlcreations.com

Instagram: _earlygirl

Facebook: Early Girl Creations

Other: IG: Earlygirl_gardens

Image Credits
IG: photogenic_sd

IG: shutterflowmedia