Madison318web

Susan Marquez
BATHED IN LOVE
Leisha Pickering
has a tender heart
and a desire to help others.
Those two attributes are what fuels Musee,
the largest wholesaler of bath bombs in the country. Pickering
saw a need in Madison County for women, in particular, who
needed work, but had a hard time finding it. “There is a
whole population of women who find it difficult to get a job,”
explains Pickering. “They may be recently released from
prison, have a disability, or perhaps they don’t have a good
education. I knew that we had people in the county who
wanted to work, so in 2011 I looked for a product we could
teach people to make with great excellence that we could
market. It was kind of a backwards approach to business, in a
way, but one that worked well for us.”
Pickering thought about the things she enjoys in life.
“I wanted a cool
product, something we
could sell at the Livingston
Farmers Market, which was
just getting up and running at that
time. I have always enjoyed taking long baths, and
I had a background as a pastry chef. I had the idea of making
premium scented bath bombs.” She didn’t see the fact that
she had no idea how to make them as an obstacle. Nor was
she deterred by the fact that she didn’t know how to start a
business. “I called on my friend Adam Pierce, who has a good
business head on him. We started the business in my kitchen,
experimenting with essential and natural oils, sugars, and
salts and such in a mixer. Adam helped me get the business
off the ground.”
The name Musee has the root word “Muse” which is a
water nymph, according to Pickering. “They lived in water and
celebrated life with scents and lyrics. Musee (pronounced
moo-see) has always been my word for things that make
me happy.”
Hometown madison • 37