Meet Riley Katz | Herbal Skincare Maker & Bartender

We had the good fortune of connecting with Riley Katz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Riley, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I fell into it unintentionally. I had some pretty severe scarring on my face from having shingles at 24. I wanted to make something all natural and medicinal that didn’t cost $50 plus dollars per bottle. A friend had recently taught me how to make my own herbal coconut oil and the jump from there to a face oil wasn’t super far. I did some research and some experimenting and came up with Goddess Oil, now my most popular product. I tried it out and I immediately got a pimple, I thought it was no good. So the 8 little bottles I made sat lonely on the shelf gathering dust. After a weekend camping trip I came home with terrible poison ivy, I was desperate for relief and searching my shelves for something/anything to help with the itching on my leg. I saw the dusty bottles of goddess oil and thought it was worth a shot. The next day I pulled up my skirt to show a friend how bad my poison ivy was, only to find that it had dried up and almost disappeared. I was shocked, it worked better than anything I had ever tried. I figured I might have been too hasty on an opinion and started using it on my face. I made another batch and gave it to my family for Christmas, it went unused by everyone for some time but then everyone started asking me why my skin looked so good. I told them it was that oil that I’d given them for Christmas. Everyone finally started to use it and my family went bananas for it. We all couldn’t live without it. I went to my twin sisters house one day and asked her if she was feeling ok, I thought she was looking pale, she laughed and said the difference was just that her skin wasn’t red anymore. I had never really seen her with such an even skin tone. I started making bigger batches and offering to sell them through instagram at an affordable price. I gained a few die hard goddess oil users right away. Then Covid hit and I wasn’t working for awhile. I was looking for some structure. I did a random google search for herbalism courses and found out my city had the only accredited herbalism course in the US and it was affordable. I took the leap and signed up for school at 30 years old. I learned so much about plants and herbal medicine, so my herbal skin care experiments grew, from face oil, to natural lube, to my most famous ‘Holy Rose Face Cream’ and so on. And so it seemed my little personal passion project became a business and Bitch Botanicals was born.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Bitch Botanicals I strive to make affordable/accessible natural skin care and herbal medicine for everyone. The name started as a joke but I felt like it just genuinely suits me. I don’t want any pretense about who I am. I am a real person who isn’t trying to sell you snake oil to make a buck. I am just a rowdy motorcycle riding bartender that is passionate about natural skin care/medicine as well as finding some balance. I am striving for honesty in a time where healthy living has become a money making trend and the internet is a frenzy of influencers leading you down a very expensive rabbit hole promising perfection. I can’t promise that. But I can promise clean ingredients, local herbs where I can, and passion in everything I touch.

My business has grown organically. I have a small cult following that grows just a little each year. I struggle with the internet side of things, I am not an influencer and I do not have the skill or desire to create and pump out content. That’s not why I am here. It affects sales positively when I am very active online but it just is not who I am. Summer is the hardest time for me because after a long cold Minnesota winter I want out! I want to forage and swim and hike and I struggle to make sure the shelves are stocked and to create content. I’ve learned to create more product over the winter months and give myself that freedom come summer. I have learned that I can take the pressure off of myself for making content and bumping up sales because I didn’t create Bitch Botanicals for money, I created it for myself to find natural healing and that’s why I share it with the world. The products speak for themselves, The thing I am most proud of is my product. I’ve seen what Goddess Oil does over some time to your skin. I’ve watched a person find confidence to wear shorts because their eczema on their thighs was finally cleared up. I’ve been able to help teach people about healing their skin from the inside out and not just treating the problem.

I want people to know that herbs are life! That they can create their own products and medicines with some light study! And that Bitch Botanicals is here for your natural skin care needs.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am assuming this is about Atlanta so ill skip this one unless you want to know about Minneapolis

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shout out to my indigenous ancestors who paved the way for much of modern medicine. Without their knowledge of plants and herbal medicine we might not ever have access to aspirin, oral contraceptives, and many many other things we use every day. I wouldn’t have any of the knowledge I have today without my ancestors practicing herbal medicine for centuries first and passing that knowledge down through generations.

Website: bitchbotanicals.com

Instagram: bitchbotanicals