Alexandria Nalepa is tired of oppressive business models, so when she started her small business, she vowed to “do everything right.”

Soft Like Me is a self-care business that sells products like body scrubs and body butter.

“Picking a favorite [product] is hard! I'm between the Tumeric scrub, and the signature butter,” Nalepa said. “The Tumeric scrub has really done a lot for my skin and I hardly have [any] inflammation at all on my face now.”

For Pride Month, Nalepa launched a rainbow collection to pay tribute to her community. As a bisexual woman, she finds it important to give back to the LGBT community by donating a portion of her sales to CasaQNM.

Soft Like Me doesn’t just sell body care products. Crystals, produce bags, and scrunchies are also listed on the website.

Nalepa hopes to expand the skincare collection to include a wider variety of products as her business picks up.

“We are working on soaps and more shower products in the future,” she said. “We have to roll out products slowly because zero-waste packaging is more expensive and our products take a lot of research.”

Ethical packaging is a huge priority for Nalepa as she aims to be a zero-waste business.

“We really want to be an easy ethical choice for people: zero-waste, regular donations, buying fairtrade ingredients with no filler ingredients, no fragrance oils, etc.,” she said.

Nalepa says that running her business has been incredibly rewarding.

“I love creative control and we have just gotten some of the sweetest feedback,” she said. “People are saying we make them step up their packaging and others share their before and after results. Talking to and making custom skincare for people with allergies is also very special.”

For Nalepa, finding a purpose for her business was important.

“We didn't want to throw another random product into the marketplace. Our products are purposeful and provide value to the people who buy them,” she said.

So far, Soft Like Me has made 127 sales to 25 states in the U.S.

To support this LGBT-owned small business, shop the Soft Like Me website at https://softlikeme.com/ or check out their Instagram @softlikeme2020.