Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Alumni
  • Login
  • Volunteer
  • Clubs
  • Reunions
  • Magazine
  • Class Notes
  • Help
  • Give Now
  • Stories
  • Alumni Directory
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Careers
  • Programs & Events
  • Giving
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Alumni→
  • Stories→

Stories

Stories

12 Mar 2019

Acting Naturally

Creating natural products and caring for the environment
Re: Karina Birch (OPM 49)
Topics: Entrepreneurship-GeneralLifestyle-Fashion and BeautyMarkets-Demand and ConsumersMarketing-Product MarketingEnvironment-Environmental Sustainability
ShareBar

Karina Birch (OPM 49, 2017) is CEO of Rocky Mountain Soap Company, based in Alberta, Canada. In this interview, she explains how the mission, culture, and products of her company are blended together.

“I was 24 years old and right out of university when I started Rocky Mountain Soap Company. At the time, it was [with] my now-husband (we weren't married at the time) and we bought it from a woman who had started it out of her home. It was very small, not making any money, and grew it into what it is today.

“The culture and the mission at Rocky Mountain Soap is the fabric and the heartbeat of what comes next in everything that we do. We have a very diverse group of people that we work with, because the business is complex. And somehow it all works, where everybody has bought into this common purpose of creating natural products and caring for the environment.

“We live in Canmore, Alberta. Canmore is this amazing, small, 15,000-person town nestled in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. I'm constantly inspired by, first of all, all of the natural ingredients that are growing in the mountains. As well, we're constantly reminded that our environment is precious.

“Everything that we do in our business has an impact. So we're very conscious on our labels, and our packaging, and what we're doing for the people inside of Rocky Mountain Soap, in the communities that we exist in.

“We've gone to India and Africa and taught communities how to make soap. And part of that project and initiative is not just teaching them the fundamentals of soap-making, but asking these communities what it means for them to make a difference. And I mean, just asking that question can have a profound effect on how people view themselves and the world.”

(Published March 2019)

Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift now
ShareBar

Featured Alumni

Karina Birch
OPM 49
Login to send a message

Post a Comment

Featured Alumni

Karina Birch
OPM 49
Login to send a message

Related Stories

    • 01 Mar 2025
    • HBS Magazine

    Venture: Time Heals All

    Re: Ilana Springer (MBA 2022); Eric Gruskin (MBA 2022); By: Amy Crawford; Illustration by Klaus Kremmerz
    • 01 Mar 2025
    • HBS Magazine

    Forward Thinking

    Re: Matthew C. Weinzierl (Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration Senior Associate Dean, Chair, MBA Program); By: Alexander Gelfand; Illustrations by Franziska Barczyk
    • 15 Dec 2024
    • HBS Magazine

    Kelp Is on the Way

    Re: Matthew Perkins (MBA 2009); By: Jen McFarland Flint; Illustration by Melinda Beck
    • 01 Sep 2024
    • HBS Alumni Bulletin

    From the Classroom to Casablanca

    Re: Alan D. MacCormack (MBA Class of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration); By: Jennifer Gillespie

More Related Stories

 
 
 
ǁ
Campus Map
External Relations
Harvard Business School
Teele Hall
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6890
Email: alumni+hbs.edu
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.