Environmental attorney, wife, mother and entrepreneur - Glastonbury resident's organic sugar scrub is a hit
by Nancy Thompson

    Denise Stranko has a busy life as an accomplished environmental attorney wife of the town's newest chiropractor, and the mother of two young children. So why is she making and selling an organic body scrub? "I have dry skin," she said. "I was always buying all these products. I didn't like the oiliness and the scent of a lot of the commercial scrubs, so I starting making them myself." Mrs. Stranko did some research on the Internet and started mixing ingredients such as grapeseed oil, sugar and peppermint and sharing her concoctions with her friends. They liked the scrub, with its cool, minty scent, and encouraged her to try to sell it, so after considerable pushing and prodding, she took several jars to a craft fair in Wethersfield last fall.
    "The packaging, the jars, it was a nerve-wracking investment," she said. At first, it appeared that her venture was going to be a bust."
The first 15 minutes, nobody came to the booth," she recalled. "After 15 minutes, I had my first sale, and then I was really busy all day." She started reaching out to prospective customers, making up gift baskets, and taking orders for events such as bridal showers and weddings, often decorating her jars with ribbons to match a bride's wedding colors.
Then she took some scrub to the Bijoux Rose, a salon on Old Wethersfield's Main Street, where it was an instant hit with the owners, Lynn Decker and Rose Brodeur Regan.
    "Denise's sugar scrub is wonderful, and she is a delight to work with," Ms. Decker said. "We were using an exfoliate from a spa pedicure line, but as soon as we used the scrub, we were hooked, and now we use it exclusively at our salon. The product exfoliates and hydrates and we like the fact that Denise uses all natural ingredients. Our clients are happy we made the switch and love the minty smell."
About that time, Mrs. Stranko learned that a Whole Foods Market would be opening in town and that the store was looking for organic products made by local artisans. "I mailed it over there," she said. "I didn't have the courage to do it in person. I didn't hear anything for a while, so I went over." After spending a considerable amount of time checking out employees' name tags, she found Dennis Morin of the store's Whole Body department.
    "Oh! It's fabulous!," Mr. Morin said. "Of course we'll sell it." The scrub, called "Give Me Some Sugar," also will be available at the Whole Foods Market at Bishop's Corner in West Hartford, where it will be featured at a Fall Festival Celebration September 20 from noon to 3 p.m.
Mrs. Stranko is working with the Whole Foods outlet on Raymond Road and hopes eventually to have her scrub, sold at Whole Food Markets throughout the area. She certainly has strong support from the Glastonbury store.
"Denise has come up with a product that is invigorating and refreshing," Mr. Morin said. "Sugar scrubs are not only an excellent spa treatment, but also exfoliate and help generate new skin cells, while helping to drain the lymphatic system. We are proud to feature her product on our shelves."
    Looking back and ahead - Mrs. Stranko grew up in New York just outside the city and earned an undergraduate degree at Albany University. While there, she met Doug Stranko, a young man from Wethersfield. They both went to graduate school in Atlanta, where she attended law school at Emory University, and he attended Life University for Chiropractic in Atlanta. They married shortly after graduation.
From Atlanta, the couple went to the Washington, D.C., area, where she worked as an environmental attorney for the U.S. Department of the Interior and he opened a chiropractic practice in Alexandria, Va. Mrs. Stranko took a job with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the bay and continues to work with them as a consultant on environmental policy matters.
When Grace, their first child, was born in 2003, Dr. and Mrs. Stranko decided to move to Connecticut to be nearer their families. Dr. Stranko is a Wethersfield native whose parents are pastors at the local Methodist church.
They settled in Wethersfield, where Dr. Stranko opened a practice while Mrs. Stranko settled in to life with a new baby. Three years later their son, Drew, was born.
    In 2007, the Strankos decided they needed more room and made the short move across the river to a new home in Glastonbury. Dr. Stranko relocated his practice as well, moving to a larger office on Main Street opposite the CVS pharmacy.
Since creating "Give Me Some Sugar," Mrs. Stranko has been mixing the scrub in their kitchen, but that's about to end.
"Lately, it's been getting out of hand,: she said, adding that she is planning to take over a room in her husband's office soon. She has named her fledgling company Grayden Thomas. "I wanted a name that would have recognition like Laura Ashley," she said. "I didn't want to use my name but I did want something that would have meaning to us, not just a name picked out of a hat. So, Grayden is after my grandmother, whose maiden name was Gray, and Thomas is after Doug's father. It's a lot to live up to because they were both so special."
Mrs. Stranko is developing a scrub for babies that she's planning to call "Give Me Some Sugar, Baby." "Kids have flaky, dry skin, so I've used it on our kids," she said. But Grace says it's too cold." Instead of cooling peppermint, the baby scrub will have a different scent. "It will be more like aromatherapy for children," she said.
    Ultimately, Mrs. Stranko hopes to expand the company into a lifestyle boutique with personalized aprons and pillows in addition to her all-natural organic scrubs. In the coming months, she plans to participate in the Bishop's Corners' Whole Foods Market Fall Festival in September and the town's Apple Harvest Festival in October. Give Me Some Sugar is available at The Glastonbury and Bishop's Corner Whole Food Markets for $12. To learn more, call Mrs. Stranko at 338-1479 or e-mail her at info@graydenthomas.com. The company web site, which is being developed, is graydenthomas.com