20 / matters magazine / school 2017 T he first thing you notice is the fragrance: the soft mango sorbet and soothing lavender, tangy cucumber-melon, fresh linen and musky cedarwood. Then the shapes: bars of all colors, some with strips of bacon embedded in the center, others with glitter hearts or mustaches. Round balls, many splattered with bright colors, a few that look like baseballs. Bags of pinkish salt stacked high. Piles of heart-shaped tags. Welcome to the basement workshop of two local moms – Maplewoodian Pam Kattouf and Patricia Miller of West Orange – who in the past year, have plunged into the world of making and selling soaps, bath bombs and bath salts. Called Beloved Bath, their company is much more than just a soap-making enterprise; it’s a busi- ness named for their beloved sons, Justin and John. The boys are 16 years old and have autism spectrum disorder. Like thousands of teenagers with ASD, Justin and John face a looming deadline. Once they finish school at age 21, they will be plunged into a work- force that has little to offer individuals with low- functioning autism. Unable to read or speak more than a few words, they would be most likely to land only menial jobs: sorting donated clothing, packag- ing toiletries for prisoners, wiping down cables for utility companies. But Kattouf and Miller have another dream for their sons. “We wanted our kids to have the chance to do something joyous, something social, some- thing special,” says Kattouf. The goal of Beloved Bath is simple: employ their sons – and others with autism – making beautiful bath products. She and Miller grew close when their young- est sons were toddlers, shortly after the boys were diagnosed. The two women bonded over summers at Love and Soap Two moms make suds, and a future for their sons BY MALIA RULON HERMAN