“[Soap Hope’s] mission then shifted to support individuals with disabilities,” said Adrienne Mageors, My Possibilities associate director of marketing. “Individuals with disabilities are looking for those same opportunities that you and I would—they want to live, work and play in their environments. Statistics show they make really loyal and dedicated employees, so giving them an opportunity to show their abilities versus focusing on our disabilities is really important.”
Profits from Soap Hope help fund programs offered by My Possibilities for adults with disabilities such as Down Syndrome, Autism, Asperger’s and more, Mageors said. While Soap Hope does the bulk of its sales online, the business is looking to expand its in-person customer base via a Plano showroom that opened in fall 2020.
“We have dedicated showroom hours where folks can come in and shop,” Mageors said. “Or they can shop online and choose to pick their stuff up from the showroom.”
While Soap Hope’s showroom has just two full-time and two part-time employees, My Possibilities offers participants in its Academy training program the opportunity to get hands-on experience with different aspects of employment.
The store carries some of the same environmentally-friendly soap lines found in stores like Whole Foods or Sprouts, but Soap Hope also offers its own house brand that includes lotions, bath bombs, lip balms and more. And those products give Soap Hope’s employees experience beyond the retail environment.
While we do have a lot of individual customers, we’re trying to build more relationships with businesses within the community to help foster that idea of ... here’s why [purchasing from us] is important,” Mageors said. “And then also engage them in hiring other adults with disabilities just to create more meaningful job opportunities for people.”
Soap Hope
600 Data Drive, Ste. 150, Plano
888-893-7627
https://store.soaphope.com
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., closed Sat. and Sun.
