An Alabama entrepreneur has gotten a lift from YouTube's celebration of Earth Day, which has highlighted the business that sprang from her desire to ease her infant son's eczema.
As previously reported, Krystn and Ryan Keller’s son Elliott suffered terrible facial eczema as an infant, and the Kellers were wary of using the recommended steroid creams. In an effort to address underlying food allergies and chemical sensitivities, Krystn Keller experimented with soapmaking until she had found a recipe that didn’t trigger the eczema. She followed that up with moisturizers and salves that provided additional comfort, and by 2012 the intensely personal effort to help her son had become a business, Keller Works, based in Mobile.
In its official blog for April 22, online video juggernaut YouTube decided to spotlight six creators “who are leading the trends around sustainable fashion, living and clean beauty today.”
Five of those featured are online guides whose videos and/or YouTube channels educate people on subjects such as "clean beauty" products, low-impact lifestyles and sustainable fashion.
Keller and her company don't merely get a mention, however. They're the subject of a five-minute video produced by YouTube itself. It's partly a self-promotion, making the point that as she learned the art of making soap, YouTube videos were one of her primary sources of information. According to the video, she still uses YouTube as a reference for new recipes.
"'This is a miracle,' people would say," she says in the video. "And then I realized that I wasn't the only one. There are so many other people that were dealing with eczema. And so it's become a family business for us. I never thought that we would be becoming a national brand. But sometimes you plan things and life might derail you and take you on a different path. And sometimes you've just got to follow that path and see where it takes you."
The channel in which YouTube showcased Keller’s story has about 28 million subscribers, according to YouTube. Within a few hours of release the video had racked up more than 13,000 views.