By Melissa Repko
The Dallas Morning News
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Alyce Alston will lead “Supernatural”, a line of household cleaning products from the folks who brought us Poo-Pourri. Similar to Poo-Pourri’s sprays, the products are made from essential oils.
Dallas
The parent company of toilet spray company, Poo-Pourri, has hired the chief executive of the Dallas Entrepreneur Center to lead Supernatural, its brand of household cleaning products.
In a letter on the Dallas nonprofit’s website, Alyce Alston announced she’s leaving to become chief strategist of Scentsible LLC and president of Supernatural. She has been chief executive of the Dallas Entrepreneur Center for a little less than a year.
The Dallas nonprofit supports entrepreneurs and aspiring founders with educational programs, networking events and mentoring.
Addison-based Scentsible is best known for the before-you-go toilet spray, Poo-Pourri. It was born after the brother-in-law of founder Suzy Batiz asked her if it was possible to trap bathroom odor. The company, which sells its products online and in stores, has viral videos on YouTube, a fan following and is launching its first national TV ad campaign.
Last fall, Batiz started Supernatural, a line of household cleaning products that are sold online. Similar to Poo-Pourri’s sprays, the products are made from essential oils.
With Supernatural, customers receive a kit of reusable glass bottles and vials of concentrate that are mixed with water to create cleaning sprays for bathroom tile, mirrors, counters and more. The starter kit costs $75. Customers can buy concentrate refills for $10 each, with scents like fir, basil and lavender. Supernatural also makes essential oil blends that can be used in diffusers.
In an interview Friday, Alston said she’s not much of a cleaner — but she said the sleek bottles, natural ingredients and eco-friendly reusable bottles have made her own weekend tidying more glamorous.
“I was cleaning, and I was like ‘This is sort of sexy,’ ” she said.
She said she was drawn to the role at Scentsible because of Batiz’s background as “a proven innovator and success story in the innovation space.” She heard Batiz speak several times at the DEC.
Batiz’s company brought in $56.5 million in revenue in 2017, according to figures cited in Inc. 5000’s ranking of fastest growing companies. The company was valued at $400 million in a January article in Texas Monthly about a former church she’s turned into a home.
Alston was tapped to lead the Dallas Entrepreneur Center last summer after working in the publishing industry and at another nonprofit. She stepped into the role as the DEC moved out of of its downtown Dallas office and into the Oak Lawn office of the Capital Factory, an Austin accelerator and coworking space that’s expanded to Dallas.
In her letter, Alston said she will stay connected to Dallas’ community of entrepreneurs. “I will continue to champion our region’s innovation hubs, celebrate the collective wins, and create new connections for the network,” she wrote.
Trey Bowles, co-founder and former CEO of the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, will lead the nonprofit during the search for a new CEO.
