Senegalese entrepreneur Marianne Ndiaye takes pride on using only Organic Fair Trade soap, shea butter from Ghana and Mali.

 

All the products are handmade by Marianne using an old family recipe to soften the shea butter. All Scents are natural extracts from fruits and flowers.

She has been selling shea butter since she launched Body Butter Lady in 2003 and has found a growing clientele at annual events such as the Pan African Film Festival and the UCLA Jazz and Reggae festival.

She sells her original line of shea butter products at weekly Los Angeles events such as the Culver City Farmer’s Market and the Crenshaw Farmer’s Market.

“Nowadays more people are aware of shea butter since more people are interested in using natural products. Women have been my main customers since the beginning, but I have noticed more male customers recently,” said Marianne, who comes from a city in west-central Senegal called Kaolack.

Marianne believes that in addition to her customers sharing information about her products, transparency and originality are the main reasons she has gained the support of Angelenos. “I noticed a drastic increase in sales ever since I started offering samples of my shea butter to potential customers instead of only offering prepackaged products,” said Marianne, who provides special scents for certain seasons and others throughout the year.

“I sell my signature scents Mingle, Lavish, Tango all the time and I offer three seasonal scents, including one available from February until May called Cherry Blossom,” said Ndiaye. “I don’t use a microwave to soften the shea butter because this method removes all of the vitamins and nutrients. Instead, I use a natural method which I learned from my family as a young child.”

Wanna Find Us?

 

Every Tuesday:

Downtown Culver City

Culver City Farmers Market

Corner of Culver Blvd & Main Street

From 2pm till 7pm

 

Every Saturday:

Crenshaw Mall

Crenshaw Mall Farmers Market

In Front Of the Theater

From 10am till 3pm

Every Sunday:

Fairfax High School

Melrose trading post

Corner of Fairfax & Melrose

From 9am till 5pm