My Story

Have you ever walked into a room and felt like you didn't quite fit?

I spent most of my childhood feeling that way. I grew up in foster care, and every new home meant a new school, new faces, and starting all over again.

The one thing I could always carry with me was my art. I made things with my hands to get by, to feed myself, and to put clothes on my back. Those little creations were the only thing that stayed.

When I left foster care, I left everything I knew behind and traveled across the country. In towns on the East Coast, I kept stumbling into refill shops. They had shelves of soaps and oils you could pour into your own jars, neighbors who knew each other by name, and people who came in for laundry soap and stayed to talk. I remember thinking, this is what it looks like when a place takes care of its people.

Then I came home to Oregon. And for the first time in my life, I knew what it felt like to belong somewhere.

But the longer I was home, the more I started to notice. I saw trash piling up along the highway, and I learned that a lot of the plastic we're told gets recycled actually ends up overseas. I watched friends who wanted to live a little greener have to drive far or order from out of state just to make it happen. And every time I mentioned a refill shop, their faces lit up. Everyone wanted one, but nobody had one close.

So I'm building it.

Right now, I'm in my last year of college, the first in my family to make it here. I spend my days as a caregiver in the IDD community and my nights making jewelry, packing gift sets, and dreaming way too big.

Northwest Repour Refillery is my way of pouring back into the place that gave me somewhere to land.

I'm starting small with four seasonal gift sets: Welcome, Pull Up a Chair, Stay Awhile, and Make Yourself at Home. Each one is handmade and low waste, and a little imperfect in the best way, because real things are. I want you to open one and feel seen, like someone was really thinking of you.

Next come refills for cleaning and body care, right here in Salem and the surrounding areas.

And one day, there will be a shop with a door you can walk through. It'll smell like home. There'll be a cozy lounge where you can catch up with a friend, along with game nights, giveaways, and faces that remember yours. A place where nobody stands in the corner wondering if they fit.

Because I know that feeling. And I'm building a place where you never have to.

Come as you are. There's always a seat for you here.

With love,
Tenaya
Founder, Northwest Repour Refillery