Meet The Maker and The Workspace

Wow! It's taken me 11 years to write this post. Actually, to WRITE it only took a few hours, to get the courage to START writing it took 11 years! The main reason for that is I work in technology (when I'm not making soap) and I know full well that every time I click 'Publish', 'Post', or 'Submit' it's permanent. Every fleeting opinion, feeling, or comment will be forever part of my permanent record when that button is clicked. Therefore, I've tried to keep what I post here a little less personal, plus I'm probably not that interesting, truth be told.

It wasn't until I started reading other people's meet the maker posts, mainly on Instagram, that I changed my mind. I found those posts to be refreshing, genuine, fun, and they gave me the courage to attempt one myself.

So meet the maker of Lora's Beauty! Hi, I'm Lora. Lora is my first name but I go by my middle name of Deann. I've been making soap since 2009 out of my home in Portland, Oregon. I've moved my workshop a couple times since I started and finally invested a little money to upgrade my basement laundry room to my laundry room/soap workshop.

My remodel included installing a good fan to vent fumes, added counter space, a sink, and lots of shelving. It's not beautiful, I could still paint and will when I have more time, but it's clean, safe, and functional and I really enjoy working in it. You can view more of the studio, including before and after photos, here.

As I mentioned earlier, by day I'm a software engineer. Although I've never said this before, one of the main reasons I started making soap was because I was playing around with creating a website years ago. Once I got it working I felt compelled to sell something on it and Lora's Beauty was born! I didn't know at the time that I'd prefer the soap making process to the website (and software) making process but that's where I am now!

I sold my soap for many years on just my website before I finally opened my Etsy shop in 2019. Since opening on Etsy, my sales have really grown. I've always felt my products were great and I use them myself, but it was hard to drive traffic to a small website. My business regret is that I didn't open sooner on Etsy.

I live with my longtime boyfriend, Audrey the cat, Ed (pictured right) and Olive the Cockatiels, and Harlan the Grey Parrot. 

I talk on the phone to my mom several times a day (yes, I typed day.) I have a wonderful son who lives in Alaska right now. He is in the Coast Guard. Because of the global pandemic, I haven't seen him for over a year. I miss him but am immensely proud of him. He's a good, kind, smart, and happy person and that makes me happy and satisfied.

In my spare time, I enjoy yoga, which I haven't done in several months due to the pandemic, bike riding, cooking, and reading. I also rediscovered how much I love swimming and will be taking that back up when the pools open again, and sewing. Yes, I was one of the many people who bought a sewing machine this year and have already made several Christmas gifts. 

I have many pet peeves but I won't list them here because I've discovered over the years what bugged me once no longer does and vise versa. I love my sleep and often get 10 hours of sleep a night. Mornings are my most productive time of the day so I guess I'm a morning-person. My favorite season was unabashedly summer, but lately because of wild fires and climate change, it's autumn.

The thing I like most about running Lora's Beauty is sharing what I made with my customers. I feel strongly about making an eco-friendly, useful product and take pride in it's quality. Therefore, it's always a joy to share it with like-minded people.

Thank you for reading and I hope this post was a useful introduction to me, the maker at Lora's Beauty!

PS. The cyber sale on my Etsy site is still active until December 2! Shop now for 10% everything in my store!