SELECTIONS from CLEAR CONSCIENCE | MAY 2008 | archives: last issue
KITCHEN REHAB
By employing lower-income women, the Enterprising Kitchen makes soap and changes lives
by Diana Bae
For Shawna Mitchell, it was soap that ultimately reunited her with her children. "It was like being alone," she says of her dark history after losing her children due to drug abuse. Realizing she needed to make a change in her life, she eventually found the Enterprising Kitchen, the nonprofit organization where she has worked for two and a half years and to which she credits her success. Today, she is obtaining a degree in addiction studies to help others like her, as well as finding a steady job. "I've accomplished a lot here personally and educationally," she says. "I've been able to grow here and mature and develop knowledge that I need to take with me."
For women like Mitchell who are looking for a clean slate, the Enterprising Kitchen, which moved to its current location in Ravenswood two years ago, guides them. The venture looks like a simple soap and spa product manufacturer. But unlike other beauty companies, it is also a vehicle for lower-income women to enter
the workforce and build self-sustaining lives, with profits from sales going back into those programs. The women learn to make various products, like TEK's proprietary Soap on a String, Dead Sea bath salts and organic body oil, and receive off-the-floor computer and financial training, take literacy classes and hold discussions about living skills. They also receive employment assistance -- including résumé and cover letter help -- and get tutors for their GEDs and English as a second language. "They get the experience here in customer service and the culture of work," says Executive Director Lynne Cunningham. "They get a set of soft skills that
can be translated into any kind of work."
TEK was started 11 years ago by Joan Pikas, who counseled and tutored women in Uptown. After discovering that many women had concerns about how to earn a living, Pikas started the organization and initially made edible grain products. Eventually, the company turned to soap, as it was "more profitable and easier to make," Cunningham says. Word spread and more women
were attracted to the business, which ultimately grew. Today, TEK employs up to 25 women during the company's busy times, especially during the holidays. The company's products are sold online as well as at local retailers, including Women & Children First (5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299).
According to Cunningham, women normally stay with TEK for between six months and a year, after being referred by a social service agency and going through an evaluation process. Many of the women have been incarcerated, have had substance abuse problems, have been homeless or were victims of various types of violence.
TEK examines their previous experiences and attitude toward the future and work. "If [someone] is actively looking for work, she would be a good candidate," Cunningham says. With the new set of skills and qualifications from the soap-making company, the women generally go on to entry-level positions outside TEK, including steady employment at places like Banana Republic and Starbucks.
Mitchell explains that, more important than just making
soap, TEK was integral in helping her learn about who she was.
"I believed that I could never do anything," she says. Today, she handles most of the shipping and receiving after managing her
own department in the curing room. "Being here does a lot for my self-esteem. I now know that I have the ability to shine."
The Enterprising Kitchen is located at 4426 N. Ravenswood
(773-506-3880); theenterprisingkitchen.org
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