For EssenceTree founder Charmaine Gibbs-West, beauty has always been about more than outward appearance. Her Atlanta-based brand offers natural skincare and wellness products designed for both skin and spirit.
With guidance from the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC), EssenceTree has grown from a small, handcrafted operation into a nationally distributed brand carried in hundreds of Walmart stores.
EssenceTree’s product line includes organic body butters, therapeutic oils, herbal bath salts, botanical scrubs and more.
“My goal from the beginning has been: how do we infuse wellness and well-being into every facet of your life?” said Gibbs-West. “We create products for what I like to say is the skin and spirit…they are designed to help you to feel better, while having these really beneficial aspects for your skin.”
Founded in 2005 on her husband’s family farm in Tennessee, EssenceTree began as a personal creative outlet after Gibbs-West left a successful corporate career in New York City. During that transition, she began exploring different healing practices, inspired by a desire to prioritize self-care and address her family’s long history of chronic health issues.
“I felt the need to break these generational patterns and understand what was happening, so I began training in different healing modalities,” she said.
Gibbs-West started crafting formulations that incorporated aromatherapy and herbalism into daily self-care rituals of self-care.
Her small-batch experimentation soon evolved into a business, gaining traction in Nashville markets and Whole Foods stores. After moving to Atlanta, she expanded into additional retail locations, including 50 more Whole Foods stores, while balancing the demands of entrepreneurship and motherhood.
As EssenceTree gained traction in regional retail, Gibbs-West recognized the need for expert guidance to grow sustainably, especially as she set her sights on national distribution. She tapped into Atlanta’s entrepreneurial ecosystem for support and resources, and it was while networking in this space that she connected with Terence Strong, a business consultant in the UGA SBDC Atlanta office.
“A lot of resources for entrepreneurs are industry agnostic,” said Gibbs-West. “Terence was the first coach specializing in my industry.”
That industry-specific expertise proved critical as EssenceTree worked to expand both its direct-to-consumer and retail strategies.
“He’s helped me tremendously with building inroads on the D2C (direct-to-consumer) side of the business,” she said. “My goal is to be an omnichannel business, and that still comes with challenges.”
With support from the UGA SBDC, EssenceTree began refining its growth strategy across multiple fronts. Strong helped Gibbs-West analyze customer data, improve pricing and margins, and better understand the metrics required for success in the consumer-packaged goods industry. Together, they developed a roadmap to strengthen the company’s retail readiness, particularly in preparation for expansion into major national chains.
The one-on-one training also addressed key financial challenges, including managing high-interest debt and identifying more sustainable funding strategies. Gibbs-West received guidance on equity financing, purchase-order funding, and investor pitching—areas that were new to her as a bootstrapped entrepreneur.
“Terence helped me understand what investors care about and how to present my business in a way that shows I know what I’m talking about,” she said. “That gave me confidence I didn’t have before.”
In addition to financial strategy, the UGA SBDC supported operational improvements such as contract manufacturer research, retail velocity planning and the development of customer advisory insights to inform product and merchandising decisions. Gibbs-West also acquired tools to analyze direct-to-consumer data and strengthen her omnichannel approach.
EssenceTree has hired more than 10 part-time employees, strengthened operations and improved retail performance through better packaging and pricing strategies.
The company’s growth has also earned recognition. Gibbs-West turned a fast pass win at a 2024 Walmart Road to Open Call Pitch event into a 20,000-unit order, and most recently won the 2026 “Shoot Your Shot” pitch competition hosted by the Atlanta Hawks and the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs.
Since working with the UGA SBDC, Essence Tree has expanded into approximately 400 Walmart stores, marking a successful entry into national retail. The company has also expanded its products into the Nashville airport and secured a partnership with Signia by Hilton in Atlanta to develop a signature scent for the boutique hotel.
Reflecting on her journey, Gibbs-West credits the UGA SBDC with helping her evolve from maker to CEO.
“To describe my experience with Terence and the UGA SBDC as ‘life-changing’ sounds cliché, but it has definitely been transformational for my business. Terence has shown me the metrics to success, connected me with resources and helped me grow in ways I couldn’t have done alone.”
Photos by Dot Paul.
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