Cary and Rick Caster stand by a planting of lemongrass outside of 21 Drops. The company sells essential-oil blends online and in select retailers. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
When Cary Caster was raising her three children, she used coconut oil to treat diaper rash, ginger root for tummy aches and eucalyptus oil for runny noses.
“I’m a little witch doctor,” she says. “I didn’t use any over-the-counter medicines on my kids. I was a firm believer right away in the power of plants to heal us.”
Caster has turned that belief into a successful business venture. She’s the founder of 21 Drops, makers and distributors of essential-oil blends packaged in colorful roll-on applicators.
The company’s 21 different blends are numbered from 01 to 21 and marketed as aromatherapy to help customers cope with maladies or shift their moods. For example, there’s blend 08 for pain relief, 15 for congestion, 19 for willpower, 06 for passion.
Caster, 54, launched the business in January 2011 after becoming frustrated with aromatherapy products on the market that contain alcohol and other additives.
“I said to myself, someone’s got to do this the right way, with pure essential oils. And then I thought, how do we get this out to the public? We need to make it hip and fun.”
Mission accomplished. Oprah selected 21 Drops as one of her “favorite things” before the company’s first anniversary — a gold-plated endorsement that helped put the product in more than 100 high-end retail and spa locations nationwide. Spa visitors at the Fontainebleau, The Standard and Eden Roc hotels in Miami Beach enjoy Caster’s blends in their bathwater. By November, 21 Drops will be in the “beauty to go” sections of Sephora makeup stores coast to coast.
“We doubled sales in our second year and are looking to triple first-year sales in our third,” says Caster. Meanwhile, she is fielding inquiries from many international distributors and retailers.
Not bad for a business that started in her garage.
Caster just moved into her new headquarters in downtown Delray Beach and landscaped it with the very plants from which she derives her essential oils: ylang ylang, juniper, jasmine and rosemary, to name a few.
“Plants are where all our modern medicine has evolved from,” she says.
— Paula Detwiller
Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. I grew up on Miami Beach and graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in botany. Growing up in a tropical setting, I became fascinated with the diversity of plants that grew in South Florida. I became especially intrigued when visiting plant nurseries and botanical gardens. That is why I chose to study horticulture. This connection to nature has always inspired me to live a more natural existence. It is exciting for me knowing that the use of pure, organic foods and products is becoming more mainstream, as this is how I’ve lived my whole life, especially while raising my family. It’s extremely important for people to be aware of and act on practices that help protect and heal our planet.
Q. How did 21 Drops begin?
A. 21 Drops grew out of my desire to share and educate the public about how powerfully healing pure essential oils can be. I was educated in Europe, where using essential oils is part of their alternative wellness programs, and I wanted to simplify and share this information here in the U.S. After raising my children and helping family, friends and clients benefit from using essential oils vs. over-the-counter medications, 21 Drops became the answer to sharing this healing modality with the rest of the public.
Q. What other careers have you had; what were the highlights?
A. After college, I began working at Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami, maintaining their Rare Plant House as a horticulturalist. That was especially interesting to me because the plants I cared for had been collected by traveling researchers from all over the world, and each one carried with them a unique story. Years later, I studied aromatherapy and became a licensed massage therapist. My advanced clinical aromatherapy certification took me to France, where this alternative to Western medicine is practiced. That was a wonderful culturally enriching experience spent in Provence.
Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A. I was always fascinated by David Fairchild’s history of traveling the world in the 1930s for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, searching for potential foods to grow here in the U.S., as well as James Duke, author of The Green Pharmacy, who searched for medicinal plants all over the globe. Their journeys have shaped our present-day world much more than people realize, having introduced new foods that are grown commercially here in the U.S., as well as our discovery of new drugs from the plant world.
Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
A. We have three children starting their careers, and I’d give any young person the same advice I have given them: Follow your passion and act on your dreams, for that is the only way you will truly live a happy and fulfilling professional career. I’d also encourage them to be flexible because technology and future jobs will be changing rapidly in the course of their lifetimes.
Q. Tell us why you decided to convert an old Delray Beach tire shop into your company headquarters.
A. My husband, Richard Caster, is a local real estate developer. He is the mastermind that saw the unique Miami Modernist (MiMo)-style gem that was underlying the decrepit building that stood at 290 S.E. Sixth Ave., in downtown Delray. He was looking for new office space for himself as well as wanting 21 Drops to move out of our garage.
Q. How did you choose to make your home in coastal Delray Beach?
A. Both my husband and I are South Florida natives, having grown up either living on the water or visiting the beach as part of our earlier lives. When we got married 28 years ago, we wanted to stay in South Florida but move a bit north from the Miami crowds. Delray Beach is the perfect mix of small-town charm with access to cultural programs from Miami to Palm Beach.
Q. What is your favorite part about living in Delray Beach?
A. My favorite part about living in Delray is the easygoing lifestyle. I especially appreciate this since I have been traveling a lot for 21 Drops for the last two and a half years. I can take my dogs to the beach in the morning and play tennis at the Delray Tennis Center all by 9 a.m. I have wonderful choices of great restaurants, and my office is only a mile from my home. But most of all, I cherish the beautiful view from every room in my home looking north at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A. “Live deliberately,” by Harry Palmer. This is the title of a book that changed my life more than 15 years ago. The basic premise is that one’s beliefs create one’s reality. Another favorite quote is by Swami Sivananda: “Put your heart, mind and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.”
Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. Mary-Louise Parker. Not because of her TV series (Weeds), but because she has a natural way about her and seems to have an easygoing personality.
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