Bestowed Essentials is a neurodivergent-female-veteran-owned social enterprise that creates eco-friendly home + body products and provides jobs for people who face barriers to employment.
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As a neurodivergent person, a veteran, and as someone who experienced youth homelessness, Callee knows firsthand how difficult it can be to find employment. That’s why our mission is to provide jobs for people who face barriers to employment – women, veterans, military spouses, BIPOC, LGBT+ folks, people with different abilities, single parents, young adults, etc.
We don’t just make soap, we make soap to create jobs!
Meet Our Team
Callee
Callee (she/her) | Founder + Operations Manager
Callee is a multi-passionate entrepreneur devoted to creating progressive change. A US Navy veteran, she first founded Bestowed Essentials while on active-duty in 2017 at age 23. Two years later, she opened the first zero waste store in South Dakota, followed by a mobile houseplant shop in 2021. Callee has spoken about zero waste and entrepreneurship around the country, and she previously hosted the popular Hippie Haven Podcast. In her free time, Callee is an award-winning volunteer, 2021 Sutton Leader, President of Zero Waste Business Alliance, and avid bookworm.
Becca
Becca (she/they) | Stockist Coordinator
Becca loves to create strong relationships and has been in the customer service industry for over 8 years. They take charge of all our wholesale inquiries and orders, and keep their eye out for new brands to collaborate with. Becca has been a supporter of Bestowed Essentials since 2018 and finally joined our team in 2021, after having previously worked for one of our stockists. In addition to being an advocate for small businesses, she love to hike, make delicious vegan meals, and visit coffee shops near her home in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Lacey
Lacey (she/her) | Fulfillment Coordinator
Born & raised in South Dakota, Lacey is a professional chef and entrepreneur. She started two businesses at age 25: More Spice Than Nice – a bakery catering company, and Ohh, Crepe! – an adorable little polka-dotted food truck serving sweet & savory crepes around the Black Hills. When not growing her small businesses, she handles our inventory & order fulfillment. In her free time, Lacey enjoys camping, riding her motorcycle, painting, and “little old lady” shit like cross-stitch & sewing. Order her pastries here!
Warehouse Team
Our Rapid City warehouse is abuzz with Emily (Soapmaker), Amy (Product Assembler), and seasonal production workers as needed thanks to our partnership with Black Hills Works.
We strive to create as little waste as possible, by sourcing bulk ingredients, using eco packaging (or in many cases, no packaging at all), purchasing secondhand equipment + tools for our warehouse, and repurposing as much as we can!
"Our customers love Bestowed Essentials products and we love carrying them! Their values and transparency make us feel confident promoting them. They offer the ingredients and packaging solutions we look for and they ship eco-friendly." - Jessica | Eco Girl Shop
"Bestowed Essentials products are exactly what we are looking for - small batch, women-owned, vegan + cruelty free, we could go on and on. They have wonderful customer service and get you products as quickly as possible." - Jamie | The Collective
In The News
