Cloverdale 12-year-old creates her own soap line

Julietta Solano was 10 years old when she started her soap-making business, Clovercity Soapworks, but says it took until she turned 12 earlier this year to really get serious about it.

Two years ago, she brought home a basket of leftover gift soaps from a cousin’s wedding and melted them into an ice tray. Initially, she searched for soap recipe ideas in various books, but ultimately ended up creating her own.

Julietta says her first batch had a few different problems.

“It didn’t set well and it didn’t look good,” she said, “so I just kept experimenting. The more I did it, the better it got.”

While mixing a batch only takes about an hour, it takes another eight weeks to cure it. She makes 90-100 bars weekly and sells them for $4 each.

Her soaps and other body care products are all vegan and organic, with the basic ingredients being sodium hydroxide, coconut oil, palm oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil and water. No preservatives of any kind are ever used. She buys her oils online from a reputable source and her fruits locally from Whole Foods and Oliver’s Market, she said.

She created her own logo and made up the name, Clovercity Soapworks, because, “Cloverdale is my home and I wanted something to match it without having it actually say Cloverdale.”

The youngest of Julio and Lorena Solano’s four children, Julietta is a seventh-grader at St. John’s School in Healdsburg. Very goal-oriented, she already has her sights set on pursuing a biology degree from Stanford, and even arranged a walking tour of the campus last year with her parents.

For the last three summers, she has studied biology in the EXCEL for Youth classes at Sonoma State University. This year, she added a technology class to her other studies.

While most of her money is being put into a college fund account, she admits to holding back a little each week to save for her first car - a Bentley.

Her inspiration has always been Lush Cosmetics, a British cosmetics company with a reputation for high ethical standards and selfless giving to many charities. Her goal is to one day be as big and successful as they are.

A few months ago, she delivered some samples to the Mr. Moon store in Healdsburg and is hopeful the store will carry them on a regular basis. She has also targeted Shelton’s Market in Healdsburg, as well as Whole Foods and Oliver’s to sell her soaps, in addition to other boutique shops throughout the area.

During the school year, Julietta will make her products on weekends and, as the company’s CEO, be knocking on doors to promote her business whenever possible.

Clovercity Soapworks can currently be found from 5 to 10 p.m. each week at the Cloverdale farmers market during Friday Night Live. The booth is located in the 200 block of N. Cloverdale Boulevard in front of La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant.

For more information, contact Julietta at clovercity.soapworks@yahoo.com.