Diva of DomesticaShon helps homes go green

Amy Shon's new business goes in the "necessity is the mother of invention" category.

 

After losing her job earlier this year, Shon combined her organizational skills and her passion for teaching people how to live more holistically and in ways that are good for the environment to create Diva of DomesticaShon. 

 

Now she has a growing list of natural health remedies, medicinals and essential oils, homemade organic edibles from her garden, beauty products, and non-toxic cleaning products. She also offers hand-sewn, upcycled treasures. 

 

She draws on her health and wellness studies at Western Michigan University in her work. As a result, she has had clients with insomnia who have been able to get off sleeping medication using a combination of exercise and herbal teas she recommends. 

 

Since she started the business in September she has had two open houses to introduce her products to customers. But the products are only one part of what Shon's business is about. She wants to teach people about the link between our daily environments’ need for wellness and how this affects a person's ability to achieve sound health.

 

"I've found I've learned to communicate to people in a way that they are receptive to caring for the environment and health and wellness," Shon says. Through incentives and by offering ways that make activities like recycling easy, she has created converts to the way of life she has long practiced. 

She teaches them about toxic products found throughout the home that they may not have ever learned about, such as deodorant, laundry detergent and dish soap. And her products offer alternatives.

 

One example of her ingenuity, she accepts grated cheese bottles from her clients and reuses them for her nontoxic carpet freshner. 

 

She can also help people get their homes organized, do minor repairs, landscaping, lawn care and pet care -- all the things that people don't have time to do and that add stress to their lives when they are not done well.

 

"I can take on the kind of jobs that overwhelm people so that they have time to do things like be with their kids. It gives them a state of well-being in their heads so they can focus on other things."

 

With a long list of products she makes herself and wide range of services she provides, the owner of the one-woman company says she often misses out on sleep to get it all done. But she is determined to do what it takes to succeed. "Failure is not really an option," Shon says.