We had the good fortune of connecting with Kat W and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kat, what principle do you value most?
Accessibility is a principle that I value most. As a person of a multicultural background with many allergies, including 26 types of food allergies, accessibility is not something that has come easy to me. Because of this, I have come to understand and sympathize with those who have accessibility issues.

Due to the nature of these allergies, obtaining food easily is out of the question, body care items are nearly nonexistent for me in stores, and I began to discover later on that certain items that are used for spiritual reasons were becoming out of reach for me. Seeing as these were items many take for granted, I thought about the people that were struggling with the same or similar issues that I was, wanting to create nontoxic body care, candles, and spiritual goods for the folks that need and rely on these things daily.

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.
The beginnings of The Sugarwitch Co. essentially came out of my kitchen – discovering my many allergies, which includes food, topical, and even respiratory, led me to spending many days relearning how to cook, researching how to make effective bodycare and detergent, and trying to find solutions to continuing even my spiritual practices without leading to a hospital trip. I could not even buy soap from the store. My only detergent option is OxyClean. Burning religious candles was causing my throat to close. I felt that there had to be more out there for a person like me.

As a rootworker, I am a practitioner of herbal medicine using older traditions and spiritual workings to help people find cures to their causations. This can range from spiritual needs to even the common cold. By combining scientific research and the metaphysical, taking old passed down knowledge and incorporating the new, I gladly offer a unique set of healthy candle and skincare options while being allergy- and environmentally-conscious.

During the time in which I was completing my master’s degree, I had access to many medical journals, which allowed me to research both topical and respiratory allergy responses, materials that caused histamine reactions, and much more. This wasn’t me going on Web MD — this was me reading material such as articles from the National Institute of Health on PubMed. And while lengthy and not the easiest of reads at times, this really fostered a better understanding as to why and how many store bought items, such as skincare and candles, were negatively affecting people’s health in ways even beyond allergies.

The most challenging part was getting recipes down after the research. Proportions are everything with natural products. Preservation can also sometimes be an issue.

We aren’t in the business for business’ sake – we are in the business of making sure as many people as possible feel seen and included, and we hope to achieve that no matter where we go. We also want people to feel safe when they purchase from us, which is why we provide detailed information on the ingredients.

The Sugarwitch Co. brand represents a decade long of medically-sourced research, trial and error, and passion for all I believe in. We proudly provide allergen information and safety data sheets because of this. And while I still work a regular day job in healthcare, being able to spend my evenings pouring passion into this seemingly lifelong project of sharing clean skincare and clean candles while educating more people about the dangers of certain ingredients has been fulfilling.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A person with my health issues is not very food centric, funny enough, but anyone who has visited me knows that I always take them out to eat at the Green Tomato Grill in either Orange or Brea, CA. I cannot commend enough how helpful staff is there regarding dietary needs and challenges. They have mastered everything including gluten free and vegan options while providing allergen sheets, all while maintaining low costs of food! It is amazing! The best part is, if we had to eat there everyday of the week, there would be something we could get every single day. Other than this, I’m big on cooking and will gladly pack us a picnic lunch no matter where we end up going.

In terms of showing a friend the best time ever, unless they’d never been to Disneyland before, I’d most likely avoid that and take them to lesser-talked about locations in SoCal, such as the various arboretums, old bookstores, or any of our many art museums. Many colleges also provide free symphonic concerts, so maybe I’d throw one in there during the week (and maybe I’m biased as to why I enjoy those because I used to perform in them) just to mix it up.

And perhaps there is a chance I would take them to a pop-up event that I am vending at. Those are generally amazing. (And again, maybe I’m biased because I enjoy vending at those, but hey, we are giving this friend the best time ever, right?)

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to formally give this dedication to my family for instilling in me the magick and the everlong dedication to hard work, as well as my husband, who has inspired me to change the world step by step for people who otherwise would not have felt seen or heard when having unique unmet needs.

Website: Www.thesugarwitchco.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/thesugarwitch_co

Facebook: Facebook.com/thesugarwitch_co

Other: patreon.com/user?u=97367325

Image Credits
Quinn Rios Photography & The Sugarwitch Co.

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSocal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.