About Us

I'm Emily Brown, and together with my late husband James (JB) Brown we started Cowboy Soap Company. JB and I met in 2009 in Jackson, WY. At the time JB was a ski instructor and I was in training to be an ER doctor. We fell in love, moved to Reno, NV, eventually got married in 2016, and had a daughter in 2019.

JB was a Mountain Guide and part owner of SWS Mountain Guides based out of Mt. Shasta, CA. JB was always thinking up the next big idea, business, or adventure. Growing up in Texas , attending Texas A&M, and calling Wyoming home, he was itching to get back into the agriculture industry. His dream was to earn his full certification AMGA (American Mountain Guide Association), retire from full time mountain guiding and move back home to Wyoming and our small farm in Jackson. He wanted to raise animals there and use their milk for soap making.

When he came to me with this idea during COVID, I thought he was mildly crazy (per usual), but also liked the idea of making soap. Soap combined chemistry and cooking and gave me an outlet from the craziness of the ER during COVID times. During the winter of 2021, we taught ourselves how to make soap together in the garage with puffies on and the space heaters cranking. The first "pretty" soap I made was when JB was out on a training trip. It was blue, brown, and white and had a Sandalwood fragrance.

In the spring of 2022, just days after placing and order for a sandalwood fragrance to try to recreate that soap, JB died in a climbing accident. My daughter and I's world was completely turned upside down. A little while later I had a dream about making that soap. Jb was telling me to keep the soap thing going.

Soap making was my way of finding peace through the most difficult time in my life. I make soap in the space he used to occupy, surrounded by his pictures, our climbing gear, and his books. It continues to bring me comfort in continuing his idea while I navigate life without him physically present.