Soap Star

"The secret to our success is to hire positive,untraditional thinkers," says Emily Voth, 39, who launchedIndigo Wildeight years ago with the Zum Bar, a $5.25 handmade goat's milksoap. This year, sales from Indigo Wild's unisex line of pure,herb-infused soaps, spritzers and oils will near the $5 millionmark.

Early on, Voth met a marketing challenge by enlisting an agencyto introduce Indigo Wild into pop culture. But she says thecompany's cachet blossoms from an internal ingredient--the"good karma" employees generate at Indigo Wild'sfunky soap city, a converted Kansas City, Missouri, warehouse.There, in a free-flowing, throw-the-book-away atmosphere, Voth saysshe doesn't lead--she follows an energy stream as 35 employeespour creativity into products, sales and development. "We callit our 'mojo tree,'" she says, and when cultivated,"positive reactions branch out from a single seed."