For a lot of things in life, my Dad has always been there with good advice when I needed it: “Ignore those kids – your ears aren’t big, your head is just small,” and sure enough my head eventually grew and it made my ears look smaller (kind of); “Read some Hemingway and practice those free throws,” and several years later I ended up getting into my favorite college in Maine to play basketball and study some classics; “Create a soap that doesn’t dry-out my skin or make it itch.” Huh?
Sitting on our favorite beach on Cape Cod with my Mom and sister, I asked my Dad if he was serious or kidding about his soap comment. “Half kidding,” he said. So while I had never thought about making soap before, my Dad’s quasi-serious piece of advice would turn out to be quite serendipitous. I had recently finished graduate school where I learned the importance of the connections between our health, the environment, and sustainable business, and I had also come to understand there was a huge void in the marketplace for truly certified organic soap and skincare products that were as effective – or more effective – than conventional products.
And so, I embarked on a mission to create a superior line of products and an even better business. Easily said, not so easily done. First, I researched and selected the best ingredients Mother Nature had to offer, but they also had to be grown and harvested sustainably, following the strict USDA certified organic standards. No pesticides, no GMOs, no synthetics, no funny business. Then, I obsessed over making the company as natural as our products, and I built LEAP from the ground up using sustainable business principles. Renewable energy, recycled and recyclable packaging, cruelty-free practices, and a commitment to giving back to environmental non-profits all formed the foundation of LEAP as a mission-driven business, and they continue to be our guiding principles today.
Each of us has our morning and evening rituals, and we’d be honored to become a part of your daily routine.
Keep It Clean,
Luke
(Luke at his first Boston Vegetarian Festival in 2011)