Following a successful pitch on ABC’s Shark Tank last year, Kristen Dunning’s Gently Soap has made it onto Oprah’s 2024 list of favorite things.
“The road to OFT was an incredible one,” the Gently Soap founder wrote on LinkedIn. “It gave me the opportunity to elevate and reposition my brand how I’ve always envisioned it.” Dunning’s Live Gently Holiday Gift Set, featured in Opr
ah Daily’s special 2024 Holiday Edition, offers the entire full-size line of soaps, boxed with a heartfelt message signed by the skincare guru. Gift holders will find five soaps which include Gently’s four main bath bars: Fields of Joy, Reign Cloud, Breathe and Bloom, and Treasures of the Sun. The box set also includes the brand’s new Greenhouse Dreams, which according to the Gently Soap website, is a coconut oil free bath bar.Dunning pitched her soap brand to Shark Tank during the show’s season 15 premiere in September 2023. As previously covered by BLACK ENTERPRISE
, the entrepreneur secured a $75,000 investment with guest Shark and Sprinkles Cupcakes founder, Candace Nelson. The deal included access to Thirteen Lune’s specialty beauty website in exchange for 25% of her company.On LinkedIn, Nelson called Dunning’s spotlight in Oprah’s Favorite Things 2024 a “#ProudInvestor moment.”
The University of Georgia alum graduated from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, completing degrees in horticulture and agricultural
communication. She launched Gently Soap in March 2021 before she faced the Sharks with her brand inspired by her personal journey with eczema. Throughout her business ventures, she’s been awarded a $100,000 investment through Essence and Aveeno’s Skin Health Startup, selected as a participant for the Techstars Accelerators program and a finalist for Pharrell Williams’ $1 million Black Ambition entrepreneurship prize, and received a $2,500 award for her business from the University of Georgia.Dunning’s Live Gently Holiday Gift Set is available to purchase on the Gently Soap website and Amazon. Find her featured skincare products in Oprah Daily’s special 2024 Holiday Edition, available on newsstands Nov. 12.