Our Story

Hey, I’m Andrea.

I started Motherland Essentials in 2015 after experiencing the loss of my son, Elijah, 20 weeks into my pregnancy the year prior. I didn’t receive resources for mental health, so I decided to lean into creative self-care to help me find community and provide a way for me to not feel so bad during a really heavy time.

I found soap-making videos on YouTube, and after my first batch (which was really bad), I was hooked and determined to perfect the craft. After sharing my journey on Instagram, building my self-care community and perfecting many more batches of soap, I decided to open my business and introduce creative self-care to others.

Through my work, I have been blessed with partnerships and features with Brambleberry, BuzzFeed, Essence, Apartment Therapy, and more. However, I am most proud to contribute to community organizations such as Mugs 4 Moms, Fresh Future Farms, and the Avery Research Center for African American History & Culture, many others.

Through my art of soap-making and opportunities to teach in my creative self-care studio and virtually, our mission is to provide collective community care by way of quality products and educational creative self-care workshops.