Interview of Eric Vavassori & Joanne Boudreault-Vavassori, founders of Libra-Goat Milk Skincare Essentials, located in Hurlock, Maryland.

Question: Why “Libra”?

Joanne:

"The name of our business was inspired by the fact that we were both born in October under the Libra sign making it a meaningful symbol for both of us.”

Question: Why did you decide to start this company?

Joanne:

"For most of my career, I worked in the food industry. I spent more than 15 years in the meat processing industry as a Quality Assurance professional and another 8 years as a government regulatory officer overseeing that same sector.

Those years taught me many valuable lessons, but perhaps the most important was this: every manufacturer, whether producing food, skincare, or household products, is constantly under pressure to reduce formulation costs and increase profit margins.

In large-scale manufacturing, entire departments are dedicated to finding ways to replace higher-cost ingredients with less expensive alternatives while mimicking a similar appearance, texture, or performance.

The hot dog industry is a good example because it is one I know well. Historically, hot dogs were made primarily from meat trimmings. Today, many formulations rely much more heavily on chicken skins and mechanically separated materials and other highly processed by-products because they cost significantly less. The same principle exists throughout most industries.

As consumers, we rarely stop to think about it. We simply trust that if a product is on a store shelf, it must be fine.

However, more and more people have started asking questions about the food they eat. They read ingredient labels, cook more meals at home, and seek products made with ingredients they recognize and understand. The popularity of stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Wegmans reflects that growing interest in transparency and simpler ingredients.

We think that's a positive shift."

Question: If wholesome, minimally processed ingredients matter in the food we eat, shouldn't they also matter in the products we apply to our skin every day?

Joanne:

"That question eventually became the foundation of Libra.

While our skin serves as a protective barrier, it is not an impenetrable one. Otherwise, personal protective equipment would not be required when handling pesticides, industrial chemicals, or other harmful substances.

For that reason, we believe the products we repeatedly apply to our family's skin deserve the same scrutiny as the food we put into our bodies.

That belief is also deeply personal to me.

At 26 years old, I survived a deadly blood disease after spending a summer handling agricultural pesticides while working on a vegetable farm. It was a life-changing experience that permanently shaped how I think about the products and chemicals we encounter every day.

Years later, when I began paying closer attention to the ingredient labels on many mass-produced soaps, lotions, creams, detergents, and household products, I often found myself asking the same question:

Why does something so simple require such a long list of ingredients?

That curiosity eventually led us to think about making our own line of body and home products."

Question: Where does the French influence behind Libra come from?

Eric:

"My wife Joanne is French-Canadian and I was born and raised in Toulouse, in the South of France.

When I was growing up in the 1970s in France, making soaps, skincare products, and household essentials from simple ingredients was still a common part of everyday life in many families around me.

When Joanne and I decided to try making products for ourselves using milk from our own goats, I reached out in France to family members, longtime friends, neighbors, and local artisans I knew to learn more about the recipes, techniques, and traditions that had been passed down through generations. I spent 3 years experimenting, practicing, and refining those methods.

Question: Why did you choose goat milk as the foundation of your products?

Eric:

"We started with goat milk because we already had our own dairy goats and quickly discovered what goat owners have known for centuries: fresh goat milk creates exceptionally rich, creamy soaps and skincare products. It naturally contains milk sugars, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and milk fats that contribute to a luxurious feel on the skin, almost like holding a pound of butter in our hand while showering. We also found that the milk from our Nigerian Dwarf goats, known for its high butterfat content, produced particularly rich and creamy formulations. Once we started making products with fresh Nigerian Dwarf Goat milk, we were blown away by the difference and we never wanted to go back."

Joanne:

"Today, every batch we make starts with fresh goat milk from our own herd or carefully selected local family goat farms.

Using fresh goat milk harvested less than 48 hours before our product formulation is not simply a marketing ingredient added in small amounts. It is one of the core ingredients that defines who we are and what makes Libra different."

Question: You have a relatively small herd of goats. How do you plan to continue growing as demand increases? Will you eventually switch to powdered goat milk like many larger manufacturers have done before you?

Eric:

"One of the things that excites us most about Libra is the opportunity to support other small farming families in our region.

As Libra grows, one of our goals is to purchase more milk from small goat farms throughout our region. The goat community is a small one, and over the years it has been heartbreaking to watch so many small farms sell their Nigerian Dwarf goat herd and disappear.

In our area, agriculture often means endless fields of corn and soybeans or large-scale poultry operations. Small family goat farms are becoming increasingly rare around here, yet they are often operated by hardworking families who care deeply about their animals, their land, and their communities.

By partnering with these farms, we hope to do our small part to help keep them viable and encourage the next generation to remain involved in agriculture.

Supporting local farming families is not just a sourcing decision for us. It is part of who we are."

Question: What is your vision for Libra?

Joanne:

"My vision for Libra is simple: to build a company that can grow without abandoning the values that inspired it in the first place.

Having spent more than two decades working in and regulating the food industry, I understand the pressure manufacturers face to reduce costs and simplify formulations as they grow. That may work for large corporations, but it is not the path we want to follow.

As we grows, we want to stay true to our commitment to fresh goat milk, simple ingredients, and formulations we feel comfortable bringing into our own home. We believe people deserve products made with ingredients they can recognize and understand.

If, years from now, we can look back and say we remained true to those principles while creating products people genuinely enjoy using every day, we will consider that a success."

Eric:

"For me, Libra is about preserving traditions. I grew up in the South of France, where making soaps and household products from simple ingredients was once part of everyday life. Those traditions taught me that quality comes from good ingredients and attention to detail.

As Libra grows, I hope we can continue sharing a little of that heritage while purchasing more fresh milk from local family goat farms. The idea to support those farms is one of the things that excites us most about the future.

More than anything, we want Libra to remain about people: the families who produce the milk and the customers who trust our products.”