Ashley Morken
Starr Backman was a part of the recent Brewhalla Craft Market, and we are enamored with the soap and Gabubu Bread she makes! Her handcrafted business of Woke Soap has a wide variety of products, and her story of resilience she shares, is inspiring—read on for more!
Describe what type of products you make under Woke Soap.
I create handmade lye soap, incense, candles, loose tea blends, room/body spritz, carpet powders, bath bombs, bath salts, crystal healing bracelets, and other natural healing products.
Tell us how you got started with your businesses!
I started Woke Soap in 2016 in West Fargo. I decided to break the stereotypes of indigenous women and put myself on a limb that has branched out so much in nine years! It’s been a blessing to be able to wake others up to chemicals in their everyday products.
What are your personal favorite items you’ve created so far?
I love all my traditional bars like Sweetgrass, Sage, Sweet Pipe Tobacco, or Cedar, but my favorite is my Honey Drip soap! It’s infused with a ribbon of golden honey from our family’s bee farm in South Dakota. It’s a healing soap for acne and dry skin. I suffer from eczema, so this soap has helped so much! With organic coconut and olive oil as a base of each soap, it’s a luxurious lather—that really is what brings people back!
Can you tell us more about how you infuse traditional medicine into your work as an indigenous owned business?
Being able to walk in our prairies and harvest our own medicine to infuse into our products.
Sisseton, SD, is only an hour and fifteen minutes south of Fargo, so going home to harvest has been a blessing!
What was one of your most difficult pieces you’ve created?
One of the most difficult pieces I’ve created was opening an amazing metaphysical shop in Dallas, TX, but having to close down and bring my dignity and pride home with me. Sometimes life can be lifing and you gotta take it in the chin and keep going. Unfortunately for me, a heartache brought me home, but I’m fortunate to have an amazing family to be here for me while I lick my wounds and gain my shine back.
What is your most popular item that you specifically sell?
Sweetgrass Soap. It’s been one of my first bars I’ve ever created in 2016.
What is something you’ve enjoyed the most about doing this handcrafted business?
Being able to help others with their skin issues and giving others the opportunity to see me coming back stronger than ever after each hardship! The true meaning of never giving up! Also, meeting others along the way.
What is the most challenging thing?
The most challenging thing is being a single mother and having to start over and over again, but having a platform of solid supporters who push and uplift me to keep going is tremendous! Having this solid foundation for my babies and me to continue our mission we started so long ago. It hasn’t happened overnight—it’s been ten years in the making!
Where does your inspiration come from for new creations you do?
It comes from our Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota people! Our wojapi scent is reminiscent of a sweet blend of berries and sunshine. Wojapi in Dakota means berries. We pick our own sage and try to always source from other indigenous businesses! I always try to infuse indigenous patterns and fabrics into my display table!
You also own a portable coffee cart! Can you tell us more about that?
Yes! I started BrewHollow Mini Bistro in September 2024 in Long Hollow, SD, on the Lake Traverse Reservation near Sisseton, SD. Our portable setup includes a coffee cart/micro bakery. It allows us to move around anywhere to create an amazing experience with handcrafted espresso drinks customnamed after our seven districts of the Sisseton Wahpeton Tribe, plus other amazing iced drinks like a Wojapi Lemonade, RezBull Energy RezFuzions, Sun Tea RezFreshers! Also, I create amazing Dakota Gabubu Bread that’s healthier than frybread! Gabubu Bread is a Dakota skillet bread that I infuse garlic and sage into. We make Gabubu Breakfast Sandwiches, Gabubu Burgers, and Gabubu Pizza with our bread! It’s become quite a hit in the FM area!
What is a word that best describes you?
I’m a survivor. As a child, I loved fishing, trapping, hunting, bow hunting, and just being outdoors in the woods with my daddy. He taught me plant medicine at a young age, along with survival techniques & skills that have carried with me well into my adulthood. It’s been a long journey of mine filled with ups and downs, but it’s been a healing one! Being able to overcome life’s trauma with soap making has been a therapeutic experience like no other, being surrounded by plant medicine all day.
Where can people find your work?
Online and once a month at the Global Market at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, MN!
Please follow Inclusive Moorhead Business & Indigenous Business Association on Facebook for their market updates!
Also, BrewHollow Mini Bistro on FB for updates on our portable coffee shop! [email protected] to rent us for your special event!
Woke Soap
buysoapnotdope.com
Facebook | /wokesoap
Instagram | @buy5oapnotdope
BrewHollow Mini Bistro
Facebook | Search “BrewHollow Native Bistro”
Moorhead Business Association
Facebook | /MoorheadBusinessAssociation
The Indigenous Association
Facebook | /TheIndigenous Association
