Meet Austin Spiller | Soapmaker | Mutual Aid Volunteer

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

Hi Austin, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I feel the single most overarching element behind the success of Sud Buds is love. First, I should talk about what it means to be successful. For me, success is what inevitably follows living a life of balance and intentional care. It means being materially invested in the success of everyone around you and cultivating appropriately reciprocal relationships- with the earth, with yourself, and with other people. I’m talking about the real, vulnerable, dirty, absolutely rewarding work that is loving something enough to imagine a better future for it to exist in and working towards making that a reality.

It was love for ourselves that got us into soapmaking in the first place. My business partner Jinx’s eczema was getting worse, Colorado is becoming more of a desert, and commercial soaps often use ingredients (i.e. sulfates, parabens, alcohols) that are harsh and leave skin even more parched- we knew it was up to us to start solving our own problem. There’s more to eczema than dry skin, but when Jinx started using our soap their eczema cleared up really quickly. That love for ourselves and the resulting powerful action led to the creation of Sud Buds. Now, it’s also love for other people and the earth that ensures our continued success.

That love means with every decision we do our best to make good products that we stand behind with ingredients we trust, and that come at the lowest cost to the earth. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m genuinely surprised at how easy it was to find a soap formula, adapt it to our specifications, and start making beautiful soaps that actually moisturize skin. I thought to myself, “Why isn’t everyone doing this? It’s fun, not very hard, and actually works.”. That thought obviously comes from a place of privilege, but at the core of it is this: Most people have to spend every waking moment ensuring their basic needs are met and do not have the economic freedom or emotional energy to try to change their lives. When someone can find the capacity in their lives to do something extra and the result is good for people, it can feel like there’s a responsibility to share it with others. And honestly, I’d give away all our soap if I could, just for people to understand what they’re missing and that they can choose something different for themselves (even if it’s not our soap!).

I make a lot of effort to genuinely connect with folks at markets- my favorite interactions are the ones where I get to share love for someone by encouraging them to follow their dreams, big or small. It’s been those kinds of interactions that have led to the most lucrative business connections and financial successes. Other entrepreneurs often recognize passion and devotion and they respond to that.

There have been a great number of children whose eyes brighten with excitement when they see the all the soap colors and learn they get to pick them up and smell them if they want to. I try to make sure there are more makers of all kinds in the future (and annoy some parents at the same time) by telling kids who are into soap my secret: I learned to make soap on YouTube, and so can they! We’re in this together and love can help ensure a successful future we all deserve.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
There are two main drivers behind the start of Sud Buds. Jinx’s eczema is one, and the other is COVID. Jinx and I had full, busy, exhausting lives prior to the pandemic. In 2019 Jinx was operating a thriving massage therapy practice and I was the Patron Experience Guide Supervisor at the Fine Arts Center museum in Colorado Springs as well as halfway through a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from DU. In the beginning of the pandemic, our beloved Aussie/Collie mix, Mimi, died of aggressive heart cancer. Jinx put a pause on their practice until we knew more about what the future might look like, and later the FAC fired me for refusing to work in unsafe conditions. In April 2021 COVID killed my 38 year old brother, Kyle, despite the fact that he had the best care with the most intense ECMO machines doing his breathing and pumping his blood. My step-mom died of lung cancer 6 days before Kyle did. My uncle Bob died of throat cancer later that year. Jinx and I needed a way to safely make income despite all the heartbreak.

We almost started a culinary mushroom farm because they had been so helpful treating Mimi’s heart cancer, but found out that both our systems are pretty sensitive to mushrooms so we changed tack. Our families were all telling us we needed to go get a traditional job, no matter what, if we wanted to survive. One day I got served a video talking about not only making soap, but also the dirt on having a soap business. I was hooked pretty much immediately and convinced Jinx it was a good idea. My mom is an artist and dyed fabric for quilters as a business in the 90’s. As a kid I got to help out with lots of things around dye- I think that’s where I developed a love of color and working with my hands, and making soap felt really similar. Sud Buds officially started in 2022, after lots of research and testing.

I was, and often still am, the only person wearing a mask when I vend at events and markets. Even though it felt like there wasn’t any demand, we decided to start offering free n95 masks to everyone at the events we go to, as well as some basic information on COVID. We’ve had locals take masks to replenish their own supply, tourists take them to fly home in, quite a few folks took some for allergies last summer. This year Jinx and I joined COVID Safe Colorado, a very small volunteer group that distributes n95 masks (in many styles!), rapid COVID tests, air filters and purifiers, specialized equipment for COVID-safe dental visits throughout the state and hosts quantitative fit testing events- all for free. Through them we had the ability to distribute COVID tests where we vend along with the masks, honoring the life of my brother by doing what we can to help folks protect their health.

This long origin story is coming to a point. COVID put us in a position that really meant we have to struggle, fiercely, to create our own futures out of nothing if we want to continue on. We can’t rely on the old ways to keep us safe; we now understand that we keep us safe. The times that I am consistently most proud when it comes to Sud Buds are not when it has worked out for us personally, or the business alone. I am most proud of the times when we worked hard for our neighbors, for our markets, and our communities- and we all came out ahead. I’m proud of the decisions we make that shows us living our values- we will never use virgin plastic packaging, we will never use palm oil, we will never use animal products, we offer 20% discounts if customers return their body butter and lip balm tins to be reused, we’re going to offer body butter via low-waste BYOC (bring your own container) this year, and we make 100% of our products. If it was affordable at all, I would process all the raw materials myself. One of our first business goals is to purchase shea butter from a fair labor collective instead of a global supplier. COVID made us aware that we had to use our power before it was gone. COVID is still here and I am not glad for that. It it true, however, that the context of COVID helped break the chains traditional work had on us. Now I get to spend my time making beautiful soap and looking out for my neighbors. I’m proud of us!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Since we live in Manitou, this list very mostly Manitou and West Side spots, with a shoutout to Pueblo!

For food, you can’t go wrong with Hell’s KItchen Pizza (they have a gluten free option!) and Sahara Cafe that offers the tastiest middle eastern food in the area. Don’t skip the Colorado Custard Company for decadent frozen custard (open seasonally, try the apple pie custard!).

Visit the enormous old school arcade, catch a planned or impromptu performance at several choice locations across town, drink from the mineral springs, hike to the top of Red Mountain! For a bit of history, head to the El Pueblo History Museum in Pueblo (I’m biased as a former intern) to learn about Colorado and its inhabitants over the years, labor movements, and some stories of current residents. When you come back from Pueblo, visit the Rock Ledge Historic Site just next to Garden of the Gods, which is a living history museum featuring 4 distinct time periods and staff dressed in period outfits performing period tasks (I’m biased here too as a former employee), they grow many food plants there and keep chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, horses, and a cow. I’ve also seen a family of bobcats wander around the ranch. Spectacular views of Garden of the Gods and just a short walk to connect to the GOG hiking trails from there as well.

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?
Sud Buds could not have happened without my business partner, Jinx Malcolm. They have provided boundless inspiration just by being them. They make the late nights before an event endurable with their laughter. They make some of our most beautiful soaps and every piece of crochet we sell. They work with incredible drive and focus to help people who need it. They make amazing art outside of Sud Buds. They change their mind when they learn new information. They’ve supported me in my darkest hours, and it is one of my greatest honors to know them. They recently returned to their massage practice, book a COVID-safe appointment with The Elbow of the People Massage Therapy (https://www.massagebook.com/therapists/the-elbow-of-the-people-massage-therapy)

Special thanks to Jerrika Zimmerman (https://www.youtube.com/c/JerikaZimmerman) who shared the formula we adapted, as well as a huge range of the in’s and out’s of the independent soap business. Knowledge and skill sharing are forever part of our practice, and she was a huge reminder that this applies to business too!

Extra special thanks to Florence the pitbull french bulldog mix, without whom Jinx and I would have been lost many, many times. Thank you, precious baby.

Thanks to the other business owners I’ve gotten friendly with over the years- Sara of Sense by Cin (@sensebycin), Erica and Nicole of Babushkat Designs (https://www.instagram.com/babushkat.designs), Chris Reiss Art (https://chrisreissart.com/), Heidi of EWH Designs Studio (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ewhdesignsstudio/?etsrc=sdt), Michele of Eclectic Dyes (eclecticdyes@gmail.com), Missy and Whit of Keep Going Club (https://www.etsy.com/shop/keepgoinclub), Jantzen Peake of Peake Art (http://www.instagram.com/JantzenPeake), Veronica of Premdasa (https://linktr.ee/Premadasa), Elisia of Ravenclaws Creations (https://etsy.me/3A31ssY), and Katie of Mount Inspire (https://www.instagram.com/mountinspire/).

Website: https://sudbudsco.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sudbudsco

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sudbudsco

Image Credits
Austin Spiller