Entrepreneur Hopes To Turn Mud Into Gold
Lauren Padawer’s inspiration for a beauty product made of glacial mud struck during a grungy rafting trip down the Copper River.
After days of paddling in south central Alaska, Padawer and her companions needed to get clean. Washing herself in the river’s glacial pools, Padawer looked down at the mud swirling around her feet and saw opportunity.
“You would just lather yourself with this stuff,” said Padawer. “It is about as luscious mud bath quality as you can find anywhere in the world,”
Padawer got an idea. With more than 20 glaciers depositing 100 million tons of glacial silt a year on the 700,000-acre Copper River delta practically in her back yard, why not market the silky mud?
Padawer’s fledgeling company, Alaska Glacial Mud is for now a hands-on operation. She’s collected some of the mud herself in 5-gallon buckets. It’s hard work, especially that she’s 5 feet, 5 inches and 135 pounds.
For now, Padawer is drying the mud in a friend’s pottery kiln and working with a cosmetic chemistry lab to formulate the final product.
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