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Mesa woman makes soap a business and passion

BY RYLEE MCDANIEL Tribune Contributor

Most people look at soap as an everyday essential used without a second thought, but to Joanna Couch, it means more than smelling good and being clean. In 2012, following the closing of a decorative finishing business she had with her mother, the Mesa woman began making products with the leftover goat’s milk from her family farm.

Soap became the main product and eventually, her passion. After entering the Arizona State Fair with no great expectations, Couch walked away with multiple blue ribbons for her soap and the confidence to keep going. “People don’t realize when they go and look at all that stuff at the state fair, there’s a person with a passion behind that product,” said Couch.

Continuing with her passion, Couch took part in the 2012 Gilbert Art Walk, selling out of her inventory of 2,000 soap bars by her second showing. “I thought that would last me forever,” said Couch. With the support from her community and family, Couch expanded her business into The Soap Gal, which now manufactures a minimum 800,000 bars of soap monthly and are sold wholesale only to retailers nationwide. The Soap Gal specializes in cold-pro-

cessed soap. Oils such as coconut, shea butter olive, and castor are combined with a sodium hydroxide lye solution and safe additives such as pure essential oils and colorants. She studied and refined product formulas for some of the biggest names in the soap business and is committed to using only food-grade oils, pure essential oils and phosphate-free fragrances. “Once people become customers of TheSoapGal, they become family,” a spokeswoman for The Soap Gal said. The leftover scraps – which Couch calls “bubble Joanna Couch stirs ingredients for soap in her plant on Broadway Road in Mesa. (Facebook) bits” – are donated to those in need. Last month, The Soap Gal donated 4,500 pounds of bubble bits, roughly the equivalent of 70,000 bars, to the Phoenix Rescue Mission to help people experiencing homelessness. “TheSoapGal creates quality skin products utilizing food grade oils and all natural ingredients, so these individuals will be provided with high-quality soap,” her spokeswoman added. Couch sees her company – and her passion – as more than just a way to earn a living. For one thing, she boasts on her website, “We support over 90 local families in our 33,000-square-foot facility in Mesa Arizona. We are proud to manufacturer our products here in the USA and support our local community…Quality is our philosophy.Natural products and world-class service is how we set the industry standard.”

But Couch also sees a broader mission in her work. “When it all comes down to it, the reason I make soap is because there’s still 29 percent of this world that doesn’t have access to soap and water,” said Couch.

Although her products are sold only wholesale to retail businesses, they will be available to the public soon. Couch looks forward to furthering her soap business by opening two new storefronts in the near future. Bubble Factory will be a storefront open to the public where consumers can create seeSOAP page 18

LEFT: Joanna Couch last month donated the equivalent of 70,000 bars of her soap to the

Phoenix Rescue Mission. (Special to the Tirbune) ABOVE: The Soap Gal factory occupies a huge 33,000-square-foot factory in Mesa that

BY GABRIELLA BURTON

Tribune Contributor

Former YouTuber Will Leinart, owner of the arcade company Joystick, now counts Chandler Fashion Center among his multiple locations of self-monitored machines throughout Arizona. Leinart began YouTubing in 2011 with an unusual angle: throughout the years, he provided tutorials on claw machines that showed people how to get prizes. Forming an LLC called Claw Master, the Tempe resident racked up a million subscribers in the process.

“It really helped grow my character, my YouTube helped me fund my career,” Leinart said. His first company was called Zap, which he bought in 2014. For a few years he kept the name until he realized that the brand had developed a bad reputation and feared it might follow his career. Enter Joystick. “When I rebranded in 2018, I started over and then my YouTube started doing better,” Leinart explained. “Then everything worked off each other.” Now, with 10 years in the arcade industry, Leinart feels that he has gained a lot of experience. And because he is not a large arcade company, he doesn’t have

much competition because most other arcade businesses are either far smaller or much bigger than Joystick. That advantage made it easier for him to navigate through the challenges of the pandemic, Leinart said. Joystick’s Entrepreneur Will Leinart made a reputation with YouTube tutorials showing how people can get prizes on claw machines in arcades. (Special to the Tribune) only obstacle throughout the pandemic occurred when malls were closed and therefore could not access his arcades. And when malls reopened, he said, he recovered more quickly than other family entertainment centers.

But that doesn’t mean Leinart has avoided all the economic woes associated with the pandemic. Like many other businesses large and small, he has had trouble finding workers. He was elated when he recently found Zachary Mott to take on the role of fixing machines and checking security cameras. “Working for Will is a great experience,” Mott said. “I’ve known him for a while because we met through an arcade enthusiasts’ group but working for him is usually a lot more fun than it is stressful. I also appreciate the flexibility of the job because there doesn’t need to be a person manning every store. We just watch the cameras.” Leinart said he just always had a passion for arcades. “It’s kind of funny because I did like it. I didn’t know I was going to own one, but I knew I enjoyed it. I posted my first video a decade ago which was like, literally almost half my life ago,” Leinart said. He said he wants to continue creating new experiences for families that enjoy seeJOYSTICK page 18

Court nixes negligence shield for Arizona utilities

BY HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

Arizona utilities can’t legally shield themselves from being sued when their negligence kills or harms people or destroys property, the state Court of Appeals has ruled. Arizona Public Service had argued that its tariffs, or the rules that govern its relationship with customers, shield it from ordinary negligence. And that, said attorney David Gaona, precluded Chao Xie and Yit Kiue Szeto from seeking damages from APS after a fire allegedly caused by negligent maintenance of power lines, destroyed a home they owned in Maricopa County. That same tariff, Gaona argued, also precluded a lawsuit by Lydia Briones who occupied the home. But Judge Paul McMurdie, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, said that misreads the law.

He said utilities can protect themselves against incidental damage, such as economic losses from power interruptions and even damage to equipment due to voltage fluctuations. But McMurdie said none of that shields a utility from what happens when its negligence in maintaining the electrical distribution system actually does what is alleged to have happened here: cause a fire that burns down a house. Potentially more significant, the judge noted that the Arizona Constitution contains a specific provision guaranteeing the right to recover damages and spelling out that the amount recovered “shall not be subject to any statutory limitation.’’ That is known as the “anti-abrogation’’ clause. “A statute that effectively deprives a claiming of the ability to bring an action protected by the anti-abrogation clause violates the constitution,’’ McMurdie wrote. And in this case, the judge said, the company’s tariffs, which had been approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission, are the functional equivalent of a statute. Court records said that a 2017 fire destroyed two homes, one of them owned by the Szetos and occupied by Briones. Briones testified that she saw loose power lines dancing and sparking on the utility pole between her home and the house next door just before the fire. She said she and her son fled to the street where she heard an explosion from the rear yard. A fire investigator found that the fire was caused by arcing in the overhead electrical wires on the utility pole between the two homes. APS convinced a trial judge to throw out the case.

McMurdie said it is true that the process used by the Arizona Corporation Commission to set rates does require the regulators to consider a utility’s liabilities. But he said there are limits. “The commission may limit a utility’s liability for economic damages resulting from service interruptions, which are appropriately considered in ratemaking decisions because of their contractual nature and potential magnitude,’’ the judge wrote. And he specifically noted that there could be huge implications and huge liability if a utility were subject to liability from a single power failure that could affect hundreds, thousands, “or, in the case of an electrical blackout, millions of people.’’

But he said the commission is powerless to limit personal liability and property damages which do not have the same implications and magnitude.

The appellate court was no more convinced by arguments by APS that it was shielded in this case because of tariff language which exempts it from liability due to “fluctuations’’ in service. “This argument fails because arcing along a service line is not a fluctuation in electric service,’’ McMurdie wrote. “By disclaiming liability for damages occasioned by a fluctuation in electric service, the tariff eliminates liability for economic damages incurred when a customer receives voltage that is too high or too low to serve its purpose,’’ he continued. “But it does not eliminate liability for a fire caused by arcing on a service line.’’

The ruling does not mean the homeowners and the tenant will get to collect from APS. Unless overturned, it returns the case to the trial court. ■

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their own candles, experience the process of soap-making as well as buy The Soap Gal products.

Located at Mill Avenue in Tempe, her Rosebud’s Candle Bar and Bath Boutique will focus on self-love and self-care. Envisioning a feminine and girly atmosphere inspired by the women in her family, Rosebud’s is more of a passion project, said Couch. “I think it’s important for us girls to show ourselves love,” said Couch. Driven by the support of her family and JOYSTICK from page 17

his arcades, and said profit is not as important to him as creating more joy for customers. It seems to work for fans. “Some of the games I have played in the arcade are ones I have never seen before. They have the best arcade games,” said Mark Stempel, a Joystick patron at the Chandler mall.

As arcade games begin to move with technology and innovate, Leinart said he might consider getting into the virtual re-

THE MESA TRIBUNE | DECEMBER 12, 2021 community, Couch’s ultimate goal through her business is to make sure her community is taken care of.

“Soap is my calling, but my community is my number one passion.” And she isn’t leaving new entrepreneurs behind either: To this day, Couch still attends the art walk to support other new artisans. “That was the encouragement I got from the community to get me to where I am today,” Couch said.

Information: thesoapgal.com or face-

book.com/thesoapgal ■ ality industry or expanding into another state. Until then he plans on continuing to do what he loves, opening more arcades. “I didn’t know I’d be making money because it started from my hobby. I think that’s how everything should start. Like, don’t think about the money so it will come later,” Leinart said.

Information: joystickarcades.com ■ GOT NEWS?

Contact Paul Maryniak at 480-898-5647 or pmaryniak@timespublications.com

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