Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Anne Dezort

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Anne Dezort. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Anne, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
The first 90 minutes of my days are very similar. I spend the first 30 with Adam, my boyfriend of 16 years. We make coffee every morning and relax outside with our cat pizza. We take this time very serious and NOTHING can happen until that peace has ended. Then I hop on the computer and open my daily 15 tabs and work through them one by one so that way when my employees get in at 10 I have a good healthy list and answers to their questions. Once they get in and the stores are open my chat starts chiming and the rest of my day is putting out fires or answering team questions.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Anne Dezort. In 2018 my boyfriend Adam McKay and I opened a SOAP Refill Station in Springfield Missouri, in a quiet downtown on a one way street. We started with only a few products and kindness. Trying to open people’s minds to litterless options. Over the past 7 years we have helpd a friend open a similar shop in SantaFe NM, we opened a second location of our own in WALDO KC, Created our own HOUSEbrand closed loop soap/detergent manufacturing- Adam created all of our products and makes them and delivers them himself still. We pivoted through a pandemic shifting to a milkman delivery system when no one could come out of their homes. shifted back to in store service, expanded in Springfield and now we have a great team that just gets it. It feels so good to be where we are right now. We are ready to stay rooted and keep on serving and refilling as long as we can!

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who taught you the most about work?
My parents are definitely the guides in my work ethic. They always showed up and were never afraid of the work it would take to get something done right. They went to work everyday. Never complained in front of us, and stayed loyal to their positions and communities until retirement. Thy never made work take over our family time and always relaxed hard when the time came to do so. Work hard-rest hard. I admire their commitment to community and kindness in the face of so many in justices. They stayed grounded and themselves through situations where others wanted them to change. They have always been battlers for those they felt needed voice and attention. I appreciate thier ability to clock in and out.

What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
Failing happens. It must.
If you try- you will fail.
Failing is learning- and I’m more empowered by a try, fail, and pivot away situation rather than a try so hard to make it happen you are out of juice situation.

Failing is ok- no one cares if you fail except you and you can change that. So fail away!

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
Sometimes, unfortunately yes. I don’t really have a public or private version of myself. Which I do think leads to most of my success. However, that means I show up just as casual, vulnerable, and honest to a basketball game as I would to a business meeting or funeral so… reading the room doesn’t always work.
I don’t have the time or capacity to hold two different versions of myself in my head so there is only one always. I can’t keep secrets, but I can annunciate and articulate my points very well. But I’ll tell a bad joke at your funeral… sorry.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
OFF/ON

You have the power. If you feel OFF- find something immediately that makes you feel ON.
No one else can “hurt your feelings’. They are your feelings- they just aren’t always as strong as some situations want them to be. That’s ok. Feel the feelings. They are yours. Own them. Feel them. Leave them be. MOVE ON as fast as possible. Or you are carrying around a diaper of bad mood/vibes and no one can feel them but you so let that S*** go ASAP-

If you don’t like it – change it.

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