Terran and Quinton Lewis met when they were freshmen at Georgia State University. As sophomores, they participated in an internship at an urban farm called Urban Sprouts, where they learned sustainable skills. This would become the foundation for the natural skincare company the married couple now co-owns, Herb ‘N Eden.
“We got our roots at an urban farm, and I started to really develop a relationship with plants at the farm and just realized how dope herbs are,” Terran said.
Terran took on soapmaking in 2014 as a hobby at first, but after sharing her creations on social media, people expressed interest in buying her handmade soaps.
“The first time I ever made [soap, it] was like a lavender soap,” Terran said. “So to be able to make a product with herbs and essential oils in it really just enlightened me to see that natural products can be made for the body that can help the skin, or help your hair or your nails.”
She started selling her products online, and in person at some of the farmer’s markets she was exposed to during her internship at Urban Sprouts. Quinton encouraged Terran to turn her soaps into a business, and Herb ‘N Eden was founded in 2016.
The cold-pressed bar soaps were the base of the business, but Terran and Quinton eventually branched off into making body washes, facial cleansers, moisturizers, body scrubs and all-natural deodorant.
All of Herb ‘N Eden’s products are plant-based and can be purchased either online or in their brick-and-mortar location. It’s important to the founders for all of their products to either be scented with essential oils or left unscented, to be more gentle on the customer’s skin.
The business was first established in a garage, and has since grown into a warehouse with organic efforts.
“The business has grown tremendously; we stay true to our direct-to-consumer efforts. We aren’t in any [major] stores … [our sales are] all derived from our website,” Quinton said.
Terran and Quinton believe that the push for people to wash their hands more frequently, and the “Buy Black” movement after the death of George Floyd in 2020, are some of the factors that aided in propelling Herb ‘N Eden forward.
“So we did $260,000 in revenue in 2019,” Quinton said. “And then by the end of 2020, we had amassed $2.6 million in revenue. So it is literally 10 times the business in terms of revenue.”
Terran’s and Quinton’s grassroots efforts and direct relationship with customers impressed investors, which resulted in Herb ‘N Eden receiving $1.2 million in funding.
“We’re involved with a cohort,” Quinton said. “So the farm that we interned at, we met one of our current investors, James Harris. And he was telling us about a cohort that he had; we got involved with the cohort. And then he really liked our business and our business model. So, he introduced us to our lead investors.”
The capital will be used to increase Herb ‘N Eden’s production efforts, while still making quality products. Terran and Quinton hope to make the manufacturing process more automated with a label machine and an assembly machine.
Throughout the growth of their business, something that has remained consistent is the loyalty the community shows Herb ‘N Eden.
“Everything in Atlanta is pretty much 30 minutes to an hour away,” Terran said. “So people will come and drive that 30 minutes to an hour out to Douglasville to visit us, even if they’re visiting from out of town. So the support has just been absolutely tremendous.”
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