Roberta Easter dreamed of keeping her ancestor’s craft alive when she started Enchanting Soap Collections. Joined by her daughter, Chrystal Trykoski in 2022, the pair worked from Easter’s home, creating hand-poured soaps of unique designs with no two the same.

In 2025, Easter and her daughter moved the business into the WESST Enterprise Center business incubator, giving them room to grow, scale, and dream bigger than ever. As WESST incubator tenants, Easter and Trykoski are receiving operational support and resources that are already accelerating the company’s growth.

Barely a year after moving to the incubator, Enchanting Soap Collections was selected as one of nine businesses from a national applicant pool of 120 to pitch at a national airport concessions competition in St. Louis sponsored by the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC). Contestants presented their concepts before a distinguished panel of airport concessions and travel retail executives who evaluated businesses based on innovation, scalability, and market readiness to sell their products in United States airports.  While they did not advance to the next round of the competition, Easter and Trykoski are still winning big: they were invited to showcase and sell their products at the 41^st Annual AMAC Conference in Maryland in June 2026.  

Describing it as the “Super Bowl for airports,” Trykoski said it is one of the biggest opportunities for exposure Enchanting Soap Collections has ever had. Ascend ABQ, a program of the City of Albuquerque that helps small businesses establish a marketing presence at the Albuquerque Sunport, will introduce the mother-daughter duo to AMAC connections that could scale their business nationally.

“I feel like I’m finally confident enough to not be in the swamp but to navigate this business with confidence,” said Trykoski. She and Easter have had a team of support, crediting Ascend ABQ, the Albuquerque of Office of Economic Development, and WESST. “To be positioned in the incubator here and at the Sunport, we were able to be successful at our own pace. It was the greatest blessing,” she said.

Rent at the WESST Enterprise Center is consistent and has helped the company avoid varying overhead costs, said Trykoski. “To know that we are secure under this umbrella has helped me walk with more ease and confidence.” The WESST incubator program has removed extra barriers, and Trykoski loves that she has been able to find support when she needs it in the building where their products are made.

Business Incubator at its Best

WESST opened the doors of the WESST Enterprise Center in Albuquerque in 2009. The Silver LEED-certified incubator is a hub for entrepreneurship and small business development, boasting a 37,000-square-foot facility that offers state-of-the-art amenities and business assistance programs for up to 20 light manufacturing, service, professional, and technology businesses.

Emerging businesses that are members of the WESST incubation program receive operational support and resources that help accelerate growth during the critical scale-up phase. The facility is equipped to house businesses in many industries, including artisan manufacturing, digital media production, information technology, and business and consumer services. Today, the Enterprise Center is home to small business members in the technology, manufacturing, business services, and biotechnology industries. The facility has off-street parking, high-bay door access, flexible offices, light industrial space, Class 1 Wet Lab spaces, receptionist service, and high-speed internet access.

Incubator members participate in a comprehensive program of on-site business workshops, seminars, and networking events, and they have access to WESST’s network of mentors and advisors in many business specialties, including advertising, accounting, finance, law, marketing, operations, and sales.

Between 2009 and 2024, incubator member companies at the WESST Enterprise Center created a combined total of 455 new jobs with a total payroll of $79.5 million. They generated $190.4 million in revenues and raised $20.1 million in equity investments.

Learn more about the nonprofit business development organization WESST, and apply to become an incubator member business. Find Enchanting Soap Collections at the Albuquerque Sunport and online.