TWIN FALLS — One Twin Falls resident decided to find a creative way to use potatoes, so she researched the benefits potatoes have on the skin, eventually leading her down the path to creating her own skincare line.
"I figured we live in Idaho, and potatoes are abundant. So I researched skin benefits from potatoes, and that's how Makepeace was birthed into being a company based here in Twin Falls," Liyah Babayan, creator of Makepeace skincare line, said.
Liyah, a refugee, wanted to use her company to help other refugees in the Magic Valley and around the world. Since 2016, Liyah has found different ways to be able to help the community. Makepeace has produced and donated bars of soap to various refugee camps, homeless shelters, reentry prison programs, and many other places throughout the nation and other countries.
"A bar of soap is something possible to produce and to donate, and it's easy to access for people as far as having a bar on them so that if they are displaced, or they are migrating they can wash their hands, take care of their bodies, take care of their children," Babayan said.
Babayan says her experience as a refugee inspired her to create the skincare line and use it to help people around the world.
"And so for us, the experience of what we lived, the experience of what we know shaped and made sense to produce a product that preserves and guarantees physical hygiene and physical dignity," Babayan said.
Makepeace, along with the culture for change foundation, received an anonymous donation of $10,000 to help families in the Magic Valley impacted by COVID-19. She says they have already been able to help more than 60 families.
"We wanted to be transparent and responsible with this gracious donation that we received. Everything from the application to the purchases, the wholesale purchases, cleaning supplies, gloves, we have been tracking it to maximize the ability to help as many families as we can," Babayan said.
To check out Makepeace, you can visit their Facebook page.
