‘Gr8 Comeback’: Soap shop owner overcomes cancer, family tragedy to keep business going

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Victoria Thomas-Bodie’s love for skincare led her to open her own soap shop. The Pink Tub would be inspired by her favorite color and as a reminder that she’s a survivor of breast cancer. In July, she’ll celebrate another year of survival after her diagnosis in 2014.

However, it was her second round of chemotherapy that pushed her to take her passion for skincare to the next level.

“I changed like three shades darker and my skin became very scaly,” she said. “It’s just like a wound that you cannot cover,” Thomas-Bodie said.

She searched for the right formula to fix it and landed what she calls the “5-5-3” method. “Five vitamins, five moisturizers and three antioxidants,” she said. It also inspired The Pink Tub business motto: Restore, Replenish and Rejuvenate Your Skin.

Thomas-Bodie says after customers who battle with skin issues try her products, they usually come back shocked. “They come back to me and they say what did you do that my dermatologist couldn’t do?” Her answer: “This is a product that works and it works well.”

She’s pushed by positive reviews for her work, she’s also pushed by the memory of her husband Kevin, who she lost in 2018 to a brain aneurysm. He was more than a life partner to her. They also shared career aspirations, leading them to become entrepreneurs together. After Kevin died, she felt moved to come back from New York, to her home state of Indiana to be closer to family and keep her business alive.

“From the minute I touched down, it’s been going great,” she said.

With The Pink Tub and Thomas-Bodie’s testimony gaining more attention over the last couple of years, Gr8 Comeback reporter Randall Newsome asked her what she felt like Kevin would say if he could see how far she’s come.

“I think that he would say, ‘well done,”‘ she said. “Well done.”‘

Find out more about The Pink Tub soaps and other skin care products online.