Organic is a word that has been stamped across everything from produce to clothing to hair care, but what does it really mean? For produce it can mean no pesticides used and a quick label inspection on a T-shirt will merely say “100% Cotton.” But when it comes to the bevy of beauty products now claiming to be “natural” or “organic,” it gets a little trickier. With an extensive list of additives and barely pronounceable ingredients, it’s hard to believe that merely listing ginger root and black tea really adds up to natural. But a truly organic product is not impossible to find, thanks to Emilie Sennebogen, the creator of Mama, a line of all natural body products she concocts right in her own, newly opened Decatur store. Made from essential oils, these invigorating lotions, soaps and scrubs will turn any skeptic into a “hippie-dippie” lover of all novelties not derived from a test tube. Buzz recently caught up with Emilie to find out what exactly inspired this down-to-earth Atlanta resident to create such goodness from the line’s namesake, Mother Earth.
Buzz Entertainment Magazine: You’ve done everything from musical theater to production, so how did you end up making beauty products?
Emilie Sennebogen: It was something completely different from what I was doing, I wanted to move into something slower paced, make something with my hands. I was just tired of the hustle and bustle of – at the time, I was producing music videos – and it was crazy. I was getting pretty burnt out, so I just wanted something more rootsy and organic and enjoyable.
BEM: How did you learn the chemistry behind everything you make? Was it just experimentation?
ES: Yeah, when I first started, I ordered recipe books. This was kind of before you could get a lot of recipes online and got some ingredients and made a lot of mistakes. But in the meantime, learned how things worked together. I started with recipes that I read and started making them my own by adding different ingredients, playing around with different amounts. So it was a very organic process, it took me two or three years to really come up with what started to resemble the line as it is now.
BEM: After growing up in Ohio and living in LA, what made you finally settle in Atlanta?
ES: My husband was from here. LA was great [at first], but it just wasn’t as great anymore. Atlanta is so much more accessible. LA was just so saturated, there were so many people doing what I was doing. But when I moved to Atlanta, there wasn’t anyone here, so it felt like it was a fresh start and I was ready to start moving everything forward.
BEM: Where do you get the ideas for your products or your scents?
ES: I just use essential oils, so that kind of provides a parameter to work within. There are a lot of fragrance oils that are synthetic and you have a lot more options. A lot of the really common scents that sound like they’re food or are nature based are actually synthetics. Essential oils are actually extracted from plants, and there are 50 to 100, as opposed to thousands of fragrance oils. I’ve really familiarized myself with all the different kinds of essential oils and I try to really experiment a lot.
BEM: The mix your own lotion bar is great! What prompted you to start that?
ES: When I opened this store I really wanted to do something to give customers a hands-on experience. It’s not practical to come in and make a lotion from start to finish, but I only had a few key scents that really started forming my line, and I had been experimenting so much with scents and lotions and soaps. I found that people were liking a lot of the other scents I was coming up with, but it’s really not practical to keep all that in stock, especially since there’s a shelf life. So I thought, ‘Why not make it so customers have more of a say, and make something unique that’s not on the shelf.’ So they’re more involved and it helps me, so I don’t have to make thirty different kinds of lotion ad keep them all in stock. And I really like it, we’re going to develop a “shake dance” because you have to shake the ingredients a lot so they blend, which really gets people involved. Little kids love it too; they always ask, “Can I help?” And I just give them a bottle and say ‘Shake it up!’
BEM: There’s been a huge boom in organic products and all-natural ingredients. What do you think is different about your line?
ES: That’s something that I’ve felt a lot because it has really become a saturated market. I try to come up with unique ideas, like my lotion bar and my neighborhood soaps, which are representing in-town Atlanta. The way I package things, using colorful papers and fun graphics. Also, the fact that I only use essential oils I think really sets me apart and there’s a lot of transparency in the way that I market my products. I don’t make claims that are false; I don’t supe it up or say I have ingredients that aren’t really there. I really try to educate consumers about what they’re using. I feel like I have a really good understanding of the products I have and what they do too. A lot of people get recipes off the internet and make stuff and sell it, but I’ve really tried to immerse myself in the process in its entirety.
BEM: It seems like you almost have a cult following of your products. How did you build that core and keep that bond when this is your first store.
ES: You know, I don’t really know actually because I felt kind of invisible. I was out there doing festivals, but I was still doing film production. Maybe that’s why, because I would pop up at a festival here and then not do another one for 6-8 months. I did have an online store, but I haven’t really focused on that a lot because I’ve found that people really need to smell and feel and experience the products. For whatever reason, I found I wasn’t getting a lot of repeat customers online as opposed to doing the festivals. It was really exciting [when I opened] because it just validated everything. I put it together and put it out there, but I had no idea the response I’d get; it makes me really happy!
BEM: I’ve heard rumors of Mama turning out more lines in the future. What can we expect next?
ES: I’m working on a men’s line and a baby and children’s line. I’ve also seen a lot of young girls really interested in my line, so I’d love to find a way I could appeal to them and still make it more affordable for their parents. I’m not really in the position to do that right now, just because I am still so small, but that’s definitely something I’d like to move into in the future. I think skincare starts when you’re young. But right now, just baby and men’s. Those have been the two that have really popped up over the years and I’ve had both in the works, so hopefully they can come out sometime in the next year. Men’s will be a shaving soap and probably a lotion. Maybe a face cream with a different base than my formula for women, just to try and get some of those guys guys in here because honestly, they need good skincare too! And for men I’d probably do less parts and focus more on finding a good all in one product, they really don’t want to worry about all the steps. Oh, and I’m going to start classes! Hopefully in November and moving into 2010 and I’ll also start selling supplies because there really isn’t a good supply place here. It won’t be anything huge like the online supply chains, but [customers] could come in and get the ingredients to just make a batch of product. There’s really just so much I want to do and it’s only me right now, so it probably won’t happen as quickly as I’d like. I just really want everyone to really understand what a “natural” product means and change the way they view it.
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