November Vendor Spotlight: Tansy Fantasy
Hey!! My Name is Fatim, I'm a black mixte race queer femme born and based in Tio’tia:ke Montreal. For the gays my big 3 are Sagittarius sun, Aries rising and Taurus Moon so I take my skincare and myself care really seriously. I'm a trained herbalist, an artist, model and a community organizer as well as being a member of the Black healing fund.
How did you get into oils and butters making?
From a young age, I was always interested in plant medicine. I was reading books on plant healing and played around with random weeds to heal cuts and burns. It was always fascinating to me that some plants would just stop bleeding or heal burns; around my teens, I was having severe acne and tried all the drug store products but nothing really worked. I started studying what oil is good for my skin type and started making my own oils. After trying many blends I finally stuck to the blend that is now known as the Tansy face oil that I’ve been using for 10 years prior to selling it to the public. This blend has healed many of my scars and acne. In addition to making my face oil, I’ve also been making my own butter and lip balm for a very long time incorporating plant medicine.
What inspired you to start a business? I think like most creative folks that had a precarious financial situation during the pandemic, I started asking myself what skills I have that could benefit my community and that could help sustain myself. I've been making these oils and butter for myself and my loved ones for years and they always encourage me to start selling them. In April I made a batch of oils and posted it on my Instagram story the response was SOOOOO positive I had like 40 orders and it really gave me the confidence I needed! Soon after that, a good friend of mine reach out to ask me if I could make 90 products for her work. They were having a festival and making gift bags for the attendees. I agreed and reached out to another friend that helped design the labels and this is how it all started and it's been so successful since. I'm very grateful.
How did you come up with your business name? OH MY that was a struggle!! hahaha I was stressed about that for weeks to actually end up choosing one of the first names in my brainstorm list. It was a big you gotta trust your instinct moment.
What is your favorite thing that you make and why? Melting the butter and whipping it. It's such a meditative and grounding process it helps me feel connected to the plant ancestors and the ancestral knowledge that goes into butter making. It reminds me of how magical plants are.
Describe your creative process I create all my products in ceremony with the moon cycle. I also read tarot for myself and loved ones so I usually flip some cards to help set the intentions that the moon and astro season are calling for.
What is the best part of being an entrepreneur? It combines so many of my interests, from herbal medicine making to the cute little videos I do for social media and even the business aspect of it. I realized I love a good organization and even enjoy answering emails, making spreadsheets, running errands, etc..
What is the hardest part of running your own business? Resting!! Because I'm so invested in this project I basically work every day at least a bit sending a dm, an email, looking for market opportunities, reaching out to stores, thinking about new products I could make, etc.. I'm trying to get better at it and really treat it like a job, try to not work or answer dm or email after a certain time but yeah it's a work in progress.