Rehoboth entrepreneur makes ‘Boobalicious’ balms for a heartfelt cause

Joani DiCampli came up with the idea for Boobalicious, an all-natural deodorant for under and between the breasts, one hot summer day in 2012 while working a retail job to make ends meet.

The world (or, at least, the busty among us) needed a product that would banish embarrassing chest-sweat situations, she decided.

The customers she informally polled that summer agreed.

After a lot of research and some trial and error, DiCampli, who lives in Rehoboth Beach, came up with a stick balm designed especially for those sensitive skin areas, made with all-natural ingredients, including beeswax, tea tree oil and essential oils.

She opened an Etsy shop. Without a bit of marketing, the product started selling in the first week.

Varieties like “Marvelous Melons,” “Hills of Honey,” “Awesome Apples,” and “Purrfect Peaches,” caught people’s attention, and the glowing reviews soon made her a Five-Star seller.

She brought on a partner and rebranded as No BS Products. In 2014, DiCampli was named one of Delaware’s Top 35 Businesswomen by Delaware Today, but No BS was short-lived, and she returned to the Boobalicious brand as a solo entrepreneur.

Boobalicious had gained a cult following on Etsy (having tried a sample of Lucious Lavender, I can see why — the tea tree oil makes it very soothing, sweat or no sweat), and it was paying the bills — but her much-loved product with the randy branding would soon do more than that.

In 2016, DiCampli found herself searching for help for her adult daughter, who battles bipolar disorder and drug addiction. The money she made selling Boobalicious would pay for her daughter’s flight to Delray Beach, Fla., where she moved into the Miracles Do Happen transitional living center for women. A year later, her son also needed treatment, and, once again, she was able to help financially thanks to her Etsy income.

Today, both her daughter and son are celebrating their ongoing sobriety.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the money I made from Boobalicious,” she said. She knows she was fortunate. “A lot of people don’t have a side business where they can afford even just the transportation.”

These experiences shaped her mission: To help families struggling with mental illness and addiction issues by helping to pay for things like airfare, board and other expenses related to recovery. She named her charity Miracles Do Happen, after the Delray Beach program that DiCampli credits for saving her daughter’s life.

“I asked Millie if I could use it,” she said, referring to Millie Tennessee, the owner of of the facility, who has become a close friend and is helping launch the charity, which will get a percentage of every Boobalicious product sold.

Boobalicious continues to grow — in addition to a variety of year-round and seasonal scents, its line of products now includes a glittery version, a formula for pregnant and nursing moms, “Beth’s Boobs,” formulated for women undergoing breast cancer treatment, Chub Rub Stix (eliminates chafing for “beautifully overweight women or those who wish they were”) and a new men’s line, including “Angry Balls,” an all-natural powder to prevent chafing — and the brand continues to evolve.

https://www.facebook.com/boobalicious.breastdeoderant/posts/1317635925004174

DiCampli, who has presented at 1 Million Cups in both Georgetown and Wilmington, even got a call from ABC’s Shark Tank.

Ultimately, she wasn’t chosen to pitch on the show. “I wasn’t ready,” she said, concerned more about the celebrity investors asking her tough business questions than the viability of the product itself. Still, to get a call from Shark Tank producers was a confidence booster. “You never think they’re going to call you when you apply,” she said.