An entrepreneurial IAA student has turned a passion for “growing her own” into a blossoming business. Heather Wheatley, a first-year horticulture major, is the proprietor of Apothecarie Brand Inc. in Port Deposit, Maryland. After a year of operating as an online only business, Wheatley opened a store front location on Main Street where she sells vegan soaps, lotions and other environmentally friendly products that are good for the consumer and good for Mother Nature.
“We have everything from plant based sponges and soap dishes to potpourri in unbleached muslin bags and other such products that tread lightly on the environment,” explains Wheatley. “I grow all the herbs and vegetables and have two farmers who provide us with fruit.”
When not at her store or in classes, Wheatley serves as marketing director for Kurt Bluemel Inc., the Baldwin, Maryland-based firm that is recognized as one of the pioneers in ornamental grasses. Growing up with a grandmother who was a horticulturalist, Wheatley has deep botanical roots fueling her dream of opening a year-round herbal nursery. Working toward that goal, she searched for an education in a practical, hands-on environment.
“Finding the Institute of Applied Agriculture was heaven sent,” beams Wheatley. “The courses that are offered are so practical and applicable to my specific interests and passion. They are taught by a distinguished faculty that brings real life experiences to the classroom.” She is motivated by the mentoring of her advisors Ken Ingram and Jason Entsminger who she says are always reminding “me that they are there to help me customize my career plan and strategy.”
Holding down a full-time marketing job, running her own business, being an IAA student, and parenting her of 14-year-old son Noah, keep Wheatley extremely busy seven days a week. She would have it no other way. “With a name like Wheatley,” she chuckles, “I was destined to have a love for agriculture.
