All About Us

Rebecca (Becky) Gallagher, owner of Lady G Artisan Soap Company, lives in Erie, Pennsylvania with her husband John, her three kitties Catherine, Leopold, and Tiger and her parakeet Princess Grace (who turned out to be a boy, lol).  She is a native of the Great Lakes tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio.  Having lived near water for most of her life, she finds inspiration in it, you will find many of our products have a water or beach or coast theme.  Her favorite color is blue, and she is very fond of cats.

She is a Confirmed Roman Catholic and was very active in her church during her youth, participating in the youth group outings and meetings every week.  These included trips to abbeys to speak with the monks and stay in their guest building for retreat.  She also was very active in visits to old folks homes to visit as an act of service and to keep the patients company.  As another act of service she cleaned many churches she attended as a parishioner, and studied both the Catholic and Methodist views on the Old and New Testaments. She performed in a dramatized Living Stations of the Cross in front of the entire church. 

She graduated from McDowell Senior High School in 1999, studied an art and science heavy course load.  She studied 2-D (painting, drawing, print art, enameling) and 3-D Independent Study (clay throwing, clay sculpture, clay coil and slab, pottery glazing design, mold pouring, weaving, basket making, jewelry design, jewelry casting, jewelry fabrication, stone setting, wire drawing, tie dying, candle making, glass etching,  3-D papercraft, paper mache, wire and metal armeture sculpting, soapstone sculpting, clay musical instrument production).  She studied voice and musical instruments, recorder, flute, tenor sax, alto sax, baritone sax, guitar, and piano.  She was part of the color guard for one year.  Took part in the Marching Band in High school playing the flute.  She also played in the concert band flute, baritone and tenor sax and in the jazz band the baritone sax.  She studied Math all the way up to Probability and Statistics which she took instead of Calculus.  She was lucky to have an English teacher who had a love of Shakespeare and devoted an entire semester to Old English and the meaning behind the prose in his writings.  This created a long lasting understanding and love of writings from all times.  She was placed in Advanced Placement course line for sciences all the way up to Biology, Physics and Chemistry. She also studied in Wood Shop, Metal Shop, Computer Aided Design, and DOS computer programming.

She has two degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, HRIM (Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management) and Culinary Arts.  She lived in Punxsutawney Pa and Indiana Pa for a time during her college years.  She participated in clubs and extra curricular activities such as The Escoffier Club, The Ice Carving Club, test proctoring, lunch time Barrista-ing (yes, she knows how to make a true espresso), Artisan Breads, tutoring of culinary and academic students.  She studied a minor in art history, mostly so that she could take some art classes.  As part of her studies she was certified for Responsible Alcohol Management, learned to brew both wine and beer, and took part in wine and beer tasting classes.  Rebecca also had a double major for awhile of Interior Design, until she discovered that it would take 6 additional years to complete (there were just not enough professors accredited at the time), during this major she studied Religious Building Architecture, Hand and computer Drafting, Rendering, and Color Theory.  In her HRIM degree she studied Beverage Management, Legal Environment of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Marketing, Hospitality Business Model.  Additionally while at main campus she studied Psychology, Accounting, Economics, Management, Ethics, Research Writing, Principles of Design, Humanities Literature, Physics, Anthropology, Art History Theory, Spanish, French, Ancient Religions and Sacred Spaces.

During her time in Culinary School she finished 2250 credit hours in 18 months, which is quite an achievement considering that her 4 year college degree is only 124 credit hours.  Besides food production of different types she studied sanitation, Hospitality Mathematics, Personal and Professional Development, Purchasing or Inventory Management, Product Identification, Journaling for business purposes, Nutrition, Employment Strategies which includes resume editing training and Human Resources training for hiring employees, Wine Appreciation & Beverage Management, Supervisory Management, Computer Applications in the Hospitality Industry which is a practical base for using calculating software, Menu Design which now helps her with designing sales websites, American Table Service which is the running of their own mini 5 star restaurant within their course and the types of service techniques from around the world, and then a 450 hour externship.  For her externship she ended up being in her home town after the urging of her family, but was accepted by a few different places at the time, the Wigwam and the Greenbriar being two of them.

After graduating from college and doing her externship and such, she returned to Erie for good.  She worked at some of the finest establishment in the area including The Aviation Club, Perry’s Landing Yacht Club, The Marketplace, The Colony Pub & Grille, and Bertrand’s Bistro.  She has also worked at a privately owned bakery called The Sweet Shoppe.  As well as clubs and privately owned businesses she has worked for corporate businesses in management and supporting positions from before she graduated from high school to until she started direct sales such as Wendy’s, Aramark, Bob Evans, Eat N’ Park, and Cracker Barrel.  During her time in Indiana she started working in Telephone Research with consumers and Businesses with Taylor Nielsen Sophres Intersearch.  When she returned to Erie she continued working on the phones doing phone sales for infomercials (the customers called us), and then went back into Phone Research for businesses with a different company ICT Group.  During one of her calls she had to call Harpo Studios and ask for Oprah! 

She was working at Cracker Barrel when she met her Director of Sales that brought her into the direct sales market.  By this time Rebecca was so tired of working for “the man” that it seemed the best idea in the world.  She didn’t know this would open new doors both in her mind and in her heart.  While the business model didn’t suit her and she needed more room to be creative, there were plenty of ways that she grew.  Her confidence, leadership, and public speaking were all improved, her sales tactics were greatly enhanced.  Also they really taught her how to get past her own barriers in her mind of the “you can’t do this, or you cant do thats”.  She was taught how to please herself first, and then please others, how to choose the people that hold you up and not put you down.

All and all every step on her path made her what she is today. A smart, strong, confident woman, who is willing to share that feeling with others.  A mentor and a leader.  A business woman and business owner in her own right.  She strives for perfection in all she does, and that shows in her products.  She takes the time to listen to the wants and needs of her customers and strives to get it right the first time.

We hope you all enjoyed knowing more about our Leader Rebecca Gallager.