Growing up as the only girl of five children, Karina Birch, '99 BCom, found her outlet to womanhood in the kitchen - but not in that way.
She often concocted her own beauty supplies with things from the fridge, like egg whites and lemon juice. Though it might sound easier to pick up a face mask from the drugstore, her reason for taking the natural route is simple.
"Why wouldn't you just use the banana on the counter or the olive oil? Why does it have to be so complicated? Why does it have to come from a lab when it's already just sitting there, fresh?" she asks.
Years later, that basic ethos underpins the company she owns with her husband, Rocky Mountain Soap Company. The natural skin-care company based in Canmore, Alta., makes and sells products with 100 per cent natural ingredients it says won't harm the body or the environment.
The Canmore location of Rocky Mountain Soap Company was renovated using repurposed and Earth-friendly materials.
Birch has long been guided by wanting to do "the right thing." As a business student at the U of A, that ideal spurred her to focus initially on human resources. She remembers standing on a proverbial soapbox in front of a guest company executive, preaching that the CEOs of tomorrow would no longer come up through finance or marketing but would have a background in human resources and be more focused on employees' well-being.
When she graduated from the U of A in 1999, Birch moved to Canmore to be with her boyfriend, now her husband and business partner, Cam Baty. Not long afterward, the couple learned that a local soap boutique they liked (Baty bought gifts there for Birch at the end of each semester) was going out of business. With a loan and a line of credit, they bought the original Rocky Mountain Soap Company.
"The store spoke to my values as being natural and back-to-basics," Birch says.
Thirteen years later, the company has 10 stores across Western Canada. Its 7,000-square-foot workshop in Canmore produces everything from soaps and body lotions to natural lip balms and deodorant.
Birch and her husband are committed to running the business with ethics that match the nature of their products. When the Canmore store was renovated, for example, the goal was to create a retail space that was toxin-free and Earth-friendly. They avoided a "red list" of toxins commonly found in construction materials, instead using reclaimed, recyclable or reused materials such as glass beer bottles for light fixtures and reclaimed wood from an abandoned Prairie barn.
The company hosts an annual run and walk to raise money for healthy breast education, as well as supporting local initiatives to clean up the environment.
Birch says her studies at the U of A helped inform her approach to business. The company uses a collaborative management model: all employees are included in meetings and compensation reviews, regardless of their positions. While it takes a bit more effort, she says, trusting the employees ends up working both ways.
"We choose to do that because we truly value what people have to say - we don't have all the answers," she says.
Striving to do the right thing for customers, employees and the environment may not be the easiest route, but it's an approach Birch hopes to see spread in the business world.
"For many years, it felt like we were on our own, doing something that people weren't as passionate about as we were. Now, I'm starting to see that shift happen."
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