John Bailey, our soapmaker and manager, was raised in Northern California by an economics professor and a natural resources lawyer, from whom he developed the radical idea that economic activity should focus on benefiting people and the planet rather than exploiting them. Coupled with this west coast upbringing, John comes from a long line of Presbyterian dairy farmers, a more traditional influence. Many of his childhood summers were spent on his grandparent’s farm in upstate New York where he learned strong work habits and a desire to work with his hands. It was during these summers, and on many camping trips with his family, that he came to form a deep love for the living world.

    

John went on to receive a degree in biology from UC Santa Cruz, where he earned both university and department honors, and spent a year abroad studying conservation biology in New Zealand. After some years of working as a research assistant, and discovering that spreadsheets and graphs are not his calling, he eventually decided to follow his heart into the fields and began what became a two-year apprenticeship in organic horticulture and agriculture at the UCSC Farm and Garden. There he received a thorough education in all aspects of cultivating plants using ecological methods.  

    

After this intensive training and some overseas travels, John spent four years working at McEvoy Ranch, an award-winning producer of organic olive oil, outside of Petaluma, California. While at McEvoy, John had his hand in a variety of tasks including tending to the beehives, producing botanically based hand salves, operating the farmer’s market booth, tending a small fruit orchard, and, in the fall of each year, working (as he still does) in the onsite olive oil mill. During this period he was also building his own small farm and earned his MBA in Sustainable Business.

 

Soon after obtaining his Green MBA John was able to combine all of the hand’s on experience that he had gained in his various farming endeavors with the marketing and business techniques that he learned in school to help create Sapothecary, a handmade olive oil soap business that is grounded in ecologically sound practices. As he has throughout his career, John wears many hats at Sapothecary, from running the production line to creating new blends of herbs and essential oils for our soaps, and his diverse experiences and education serve him well. On his belt hang both a Blackberry and a Leatherman. He enjoys working with the botanical ingredients to create beautiful, hand-crafted bars of soap that allow people the chance to experience the complex gentle scents and sensations of the plant world.