In 2007, she started her career as a professional photographer with Modern Imagine Photography. She then took on her second adventure in 2014, with her handcrafted, plant-based bath and body business, PIXEL.

That same year, she and her husband, Leon, decided to purchase a building as her photography studio, as she had been operating out of her husband’s family business downtown.

“The photography business was growing and we had to take a leap of faith at the time,” she said. “We were going from no bills to a mortgage and all the rest of the extra expenses that comes with a separate location.”

That summer, she received a bar of homemade soap as a gift. “At first I told my husband, ‘I don’t want to use a bar of soap, who uses that?'” Schiavo said. “He said, ‘You should try it,’ and I gave it a week and fell in love with it.”

OWNER NIKI SCHIAVO offers her own handcrafted, plant-based bath and body products as well as other items at PIXEL Bath Body Boutique, 103 Maple St. in Crystal Falls. (Terri Castelaz/Daily News photo)

That bar of soap started her thinking — could she could teach herself to make soap and, if she could, would others be interested in purchasing it?

Another motivational factor was her middle son was having some skin issue at the time — as was she — and wanted a quality natural product.

“I already had a platform and following from my photography business, so I felt I had a stable place to start from in this new venture,” Schiavo said.

They made their first batches of soap at the end of the year and started PIXEL in January 2015.

Schiavo wasn’t expecting the response. “Orders went nuts, as no one had a handcrafted bath and body shop,” she said. “People were wanting natural and plant-based products and that’s what we believe in.”

Customers then asking for lotion because they loved the soaps so much. Schiavo began experimenting with lotion recipes, mastered those and created 15 different products.

Schiavo said she didn’t master the formulas overnight — it took months and years of testing products on family and friends to get it perfect.

“I’m probably the most proud of the lotion,” she said. “It got to the point I couldn’t keep up with the demand.”

The soap and lotion became the building blocks for other lines for her customers, she said. “Once they use those two things, then the other products kind of go along with them,” Schiavo noted.

In addition to the bar soaps and lotions, PIXEL offers body frosting, sugar and body scrubs, bath bombs and bubble bars, deodorants, hand soap, hand sanitizers, car fresheners, soy candles and room sprays. She also carries face creams and toners.

All PIXEL products are plant-based, with no animal products and no animal testing.

PIXEL has 90 regular fragrances and features limited edition scents during each season.

The foaming hand soap and hand sanitizers, which don’t harm or burn the skin, were a huge seller last year with the pandemic, Schiavo said.

She also has bath products for men, as well as children and babies.

All the bath and body products were named after something that means something to Schiavo personally or is a photography term. “That’s where the name PIXEL comes from,” she said.

She recently launched her own line of perfume. “I kept it a secret from my family until it was complete,” she said. “Women just love it.”

Schiavo said she now looks to add hair products to the shop.

She and her husband started to remodel the building a couple years ago, and women would come in and ask if they had any clothes. “This got me thinking,” she said. “After feeling out my customers, I decided to expand the business and add quality boutique brands.”

PIXEL Bath Body Boutique now carries name brands that include Judy Blues, Gypsy Jazz, Very G and a new activewear line, Mono B. Women’s sizes range from 0-2 to 3XL and 4XL. She offers children’s and a few men’s items as well.

The boutique has added shoes, purses and jewelry, including U.P. pieces.

PIXEL supports other small business online and in store.

“I like to be unique — if I don’t love it, I don’t sell it,” she said. “It’s a little tougher with the boutique end, but over the years I have learned from my audience.”

Online orders is where the business thrives, Schiavo explained. She found out she could reach more people by going “live” on Facebook, which she does Monday through Friday.

“The (Facebook) ‘lives’ are where it’s at,” she said, as it gives her a forum to explain all the products in detail.

Through social media, Schiavo has developed a relationship with customers in other states. “I found by going ‘live’ different times of the day I catch different ‘PIXEL’ girls,” Schiavo said. “We make it fun and unique.”

Schiavo said her whole family is involved in the business. The Schiavos have three boys — Liam, 15; Layne, 14; and Lindon, 11 — and an adult daughter, Kiera Schiavo, who is in Wisconsin.

Last year, due to the increase in sales during COVID-19, she hired assistant and store manager Mariah Verhoven and her mother, Bonnie Bruce, as shipping clerk, who also takes care of several others aspects of the business.

“It’s a lot of hard work and lot of hours,” Schiavo said.

Because PIXEL has taken off so well, she now shoots photography for Modern Image on Tuesdays only.

“People ask me what I do. My response is, ‘I am an entrepreneur, but an artist at heart,'” she said.

PIXEL Bath Body Boutique will host a grand opening of the newly renovated and expanded store at 103 Maple St. in Crystal Falls, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. They will conduct several giveaways and serve complementary mimosas.

Normal store hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. For more information, go to PIXEL on Facebook or https://pixel-bath-body-boutique.myshopify.com.