Business partners Virginia Dickman-Lopez, of Chicago, and Sarah Dwigans, of Granger, met at Southwestern Michigan College, but to be Sincerely Different, their story traversed Hawaii, Sweden and Indiana before their 2014 reunion.

Sincerely Different is what the women, who met in a history class and graduated from SMC in 2004, call handcrafted apothecary products addressing ailments such as insomnia, headaches and damaged skin.

Ginny, who lived in Cassopolis as a girl, reigned as Miss Galien 2002 in Blossomtime.

Her family is known in Berrien County for the Southwestern Michigan Buttery, for which she has been marketing and business development director since 2010, selling gourmet apple, peach, plum, rhubarb, blueberry and apple-cranberry spreads.

Starting summer classes as soon as she finished River Valley High School, Dickman-Lopez earned an early master’s degree in international business at Hawaii Pacific University.

She worked for the government’s Business Sweden, which helps companies reach full international potential and foreign countries invest and expand in the Scandinavian nation.

“SMC is such a great college,” Dickman-Lopez said. “SMC encourages people to stretch outside their comfort zones and really grow. It was always my dream to go to SMC” since spelling bees and Young Authors events.

Dwigans, teaching English at Penn High School in Mishawaka since 2009, finished her bachelor’s degree at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis.

Dwigans has two children. Dickman-Lopez is expecting her second.

Whether it’s nine fruity lip balms — peppermint, grapefruit, mango, tangerine, banana, lemon, passion fruit and spearmint (which Ginny’s grandma grew in Baroda) — Achy Muscle Rub or Man Hands, it’s hard not to notice an elephant brands every tin and stick.

“Elephants have amazing skin. They don’t get skin cancer,” Dwigans explained.

It’s true. Researchers pondering this since the 1970s think they finally found an answer. Elephants evolved extra copies of a gene that fights tumor cells, two independent studies concluded.

Dwigans, from South Bend, credits her mother, a Miles biochemist with a background in homeopathic medicine and devotion to lifelong learning, though she didn’t appreciate it when “she made me eat weeds out of the backyard.”

One Christmas Dwigans’ husband, an industrial mechanic, wanted homemade presents.

He builds furniture, so she felt stumped by what she could bring to the table. Now her formulas fill notebooks.

She sets aside two weekends a month to turn out products.

In conversation she sounds more a chemist than an English teacher.

“I never thought I’d like it that much,” said Dwigans, who studied chemistry in the same SMC class as Dickman-Lopez.

They learned Shakespeare under the tutelage of Dr. Joseph Lemrow, SMC’s first professor emeritus.

Tension Balm “I did for myself,” Dwigans said of a migraine alternative for which medications promised side effects worse than headaches.

Veterans responded to Sweet Dreams insomnia salve.

Whenever it comes to research-and-development, her job at a huge high school lends itself to focus-group feedback.

A teaching colleague suggested Vitamin D in lip balm after lifeguarding left her with skin cancer.

Dwigans detected student interest in healthier, all-natural products, which were not marketed to them. They designed bright-colored tins to remedy that.

Ginny and Sarah are particular about their partners, but sell products in Chicago, South Bend, Granger, St. Joseph, Bridgman and New Buffalo stores as well as through their web site and farm markets, festivals and fairs, including Dowagiac’s Summer in the City, Niles’ Four Flags Area Apple Festival and Whiting, Ind.’s, Pierogi Fest.

“I have worked with many companies,” Dickman-Lopez said, “and besides polished and professional, I want products true to their claims. We had a long conversation about the name. Most natural, organic products have holistic names. Sincerely Different seemed the only name that made sense.”

The friends, who stay on track through weekly meetings, make compatible partners in an opposites-attract way because of their personalities. Dwigans is restless. Dickman-Lopez plots her calendar a year ahead.

Teaming at this stage in life gives them an excuse to hang out again.

They expect their venture to be fulltime eventually. It could be three years before they outgrow the artisan kitchen 16 miles from campus.

Their story embodies the adage think globally, act locally, emphasizing community investment, working with sports teams, supporting school fundraisers and shopping nearby.

Their social media plays up such quotes as, “It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference” or French fashion designer Coco Chanel’s comment, “To be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”

“We have a heart for helping people,” Dickman-Lopez said.

Southwestern Michigan College is a public, residential and commuter, community college, founded in 1964. The college averages in the top 10 percent nationally for student academic success based upon the National Community College Benchmark Project. Southwestern Michigan College strives to be the college of first choice, to provide the programs and services to meet the needs of students, and to serve our community. The college is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges.