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On the CosmoFactory podcast, discover the latest innovations along the cosmetics and personal care supply chain. Hear thought-provoking conversations with top beauty industry experts from around the world. Learn about next-level solutions and find inspiration to turn your own ideas into industry-changing innovations.
A PRODUCTION OF Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna
CosmoFactory is the first podcast from Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna—the most important beauty trade show in the world. Dedicated to all sectors of the industry, Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna welcomes over 250,000 visitors from 150 countries and regions and nearly 3,000 exhibitors to Bologna, Italy, each year. It’s where our diverse and international industry comes together to build business relationships and to discover the best brands and newest innovations across consumer beauty, professional beauty, and the entire supply chain. The trade show includes a robust program of exclusive educational content, featuring executives and key opinion leaders from every sector of the cosmetics, fragrance, and personal care industry. Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna is the most important event of the Cosmoprof international network, with exhibitions in Asia (Hong Kong), the US (Las Vegas and Miami), India (Mumbai) and Thailand (Bangkok). Thanks to its global exhibitions Cosmoprof connects a community of more than 500,000 beauty stakeholders and 10,000 companies from 190 countries and regions. Learn more today at Cosmoprof.com
CosmoFactory was co-developed in collaboration with supply-side expert Deanna Utroske, Host of the CosmoFactory podcast and Editor of the Beauty Insights newsletter.
107 - Skincare Rooted in Agroforestry, featuring Moringaia Co-Founder Elah Barshi
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Deanna: [00:00:00] This episode is about moringa trees and moringa seed oil. It's about a mission with a brand rather than a brand with a mission. It's about forestry, soil restoration, and biodiversity. It's also about the luxury hospitality and spa sector, and it's about the potential of a brand to become a cultural symbol and source of local pride.
Today, my guest on the CosmoFactory podcast is Ella Barshi, co-founder of [00:01:00] Moringaia. Ella, welcome to CosmoFactory.
Elah: Well, Deanna, thank you so much for that, uh, intro. I'm, I'm super honored to be here.
Deanna: No, and I'm very excited, uh, to have this conversation with you. Thank you. You know, when I described Moringa as a, a mission with a brand and not a brand with a mission, that's a line I borrowed from your website, as you well know. Um, and I did that because yours is a good example of what many cosmetics, personal care, and fragrance companies recognize, I think especially startups, uh, which is that the wide reach, uh, and emotional impact of beauty care can be constructively leveraged to support an underlying mission.
Um, if I can put your mission, uh, quite simply, I would say it is ecological. Um, but tell us, if you will, tell us about the trees.
Elah: Yeah. So really, and my brother's the one who started this all. He's the visionary, he's the agroforester, and he's the plant man. [00:02:00] Uh, his Instagram is plantmanbr. He really is the plant man. And he visited, uh, one of the most deforested and drought-stricken parts of the island and saw that the moringa tree grows very abundantly.
And it doesn't require a lot of water, it doesn't require a lot of resources, and every part of the tree can be used. So the leaves are eaten as a superfood, and the flowers are incredible. They're so beautiful. They're white and tiny, but they turn into these pods, and inside the pods there are seeds, and that's what we cold press into oil.
And actually, um, about two weeks ago, there was a study that came out of Brazil showing that these seeds can actually remove, uh, microplastics from water. So the tree is known as the miracle tree. Locally, it's known as Inaru or Daluwig tree. And sorry, I didn't mention, but the roots also are very strong.
They hold the earth during, uh, heavy rainfall to prevent mudslides. And when my brother really came across this tree, he said, "Wow, I need to get more people to [00:03:00] plant this tree. How are we gonna do that? We need to create a product to create the demand, so I can go into these, uh, rural communities like where nothing else really can grow and get them to plant it."
And so our mission is-- has always been to plant trees. Our mission is a reforestation mission. And the products which are incredible, and not just because we make them, but the, the results that people feel on their skin and everything that it stands for is incredible. Uh, they're kind of a byproduct of our greater mission, which is to plant more trees, uh, and, and yeah
Deanna: Yeah. No, that's lovely. And, um, you mentioned the island, but we haven't told people yet, um, where you're based. So set us up. Help, help us out
Elah: So, uh, we're in, based in the Dominican Republic, and that's where all of our products are made
Deanna: Okay. Okay, excellent. Um, and you've made it quite clear that moringa is what we might call a [00:04:00] drought-resistant botanical. And it, it reminds me, um, maybe there's a similarity here with, uh, the prickly pear cactus, which seems to be grown and used in cosmetic product formulations now in nearly every region.
Um, I would, I would guess moringa is likely to become more and more popular then as extreme weather conditions continue globally. Is there anything else you might say about the tree that makes it particularly eco-resilient or environmentally valuable?
Elah: I think really it grows, moringa grows all across the world. It grows in India, it grows in parts of Africa, of course, in other parts of Latin America. It grows in Dominican Republic, of course. And, uh, I think it's just really relatively... It's not resource-intensive like cacao, for example. Uh, it's kind of easy.
Sometimes you see it just growing wild on the side of the road. Uh, so I think that's what makes it [00:05:00] so, uh, key to, to being a key ingredient.
Deanna: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No, that's fantastic. And you mentioned, uh, the idea of creating a brand to incentivize. I, I think you, you may have suggested, uh, planting more of these trees. But, but take us back, uh, several years in the business, um, when you were deciding to, to commercialize the reforestation initiative. Uh, can you talk about any o- other opportunities you were considering?
Why did you choose to create maybe a beauty brand rather than something in the food or beverage space? Um, I also think moringa trees are sometimes used in, in ranching as feed for livestock. How did you, how did you end up in beauty?
Elah: Uh, we just saw incredible results on the skin. We just saw that this oil was a- absolutely-- it absorbs super quickly into the skin. It doesn't, uh, sit on top of the skin like other oils. Uh, it's very rich in omega-9 oleic acid and very rich in vitamin E. And, um, my brother did [00:06:00] start with doing, uh, also food things and looking at the different, uh, um, possibilities and things that we could create, products that we could create with the tree.
And it's not something that we are, um, going... Like, it's something we want to continue developing, especially as we enter even more deeply into the hospitality space. Uh, Moringa is, and our philosophy is not just what you put on your skin, it's also what you put inside of your skin. It's also the kind of thoughts that you have.
It's kind of, it's a full 360. Uh, but cosmetics was kind of the first major product line that we could also develop into many SKUs. Uh, and we saw that, uh, we created body oils from the beginning, um, face serums. Our Miracle Oil is our best seller. Um, but yeah, just it kind of, we saw the incredible benefits that it has for the skin and that there was a demand for it
Deanna: Yeah. No, that makes good sense. And, and certainly we've seen-- I may have even said this [00:07:00] on previous episodes, but we've seen other, uh, companies in the brand space or in the ingredient space, uh, in various technologies really use beauty as a, a gateway industry. There's a lot of opportunity there, I think, for, um, building familiarity among consumers, uh, for consumer education, and certainly as you suggested with the skincare benefits, real appreciation, uh, for what something like this can do.
You know, and it, it makes me think too about, I think some business realities that all brands share in common, right? There are conventions for decision-making when it comes to retail distribution or for pricing, um, and identifying a target consumer. But I'm hoping you'll tell us how the larger agroforestry mission informs your decision-making as a beauty brand.
Can you, can you share any comments there?
Elah: Yeah, of course. So for us, it's really important to be as close to the source as possible. We're based in Dominican Republic, and we also make the products ourselves. [00:08:00] And our whole mission, the reason we started it, is to create the demand for moringa, but it doesn't stop at moringa. We also want to cultivate and encourage more regenerative farming and regenerative agriculture across all, uh, agriculture that there is in Dominican Republic.
And I think there's still a lot that can be developed and new ingredients that are coming out, and there's so much incredible biodiversity, and there's so much opportunity. Uh, moringa's kind of the easiest one in a sense, and it is, uh, has global recognition as an ingredient. Um, but I would say that we're always looking for partners that share our philosophy.
And, um, for example, we incorporated vanilla in one of our, uh, body oils, and I visited this farm. Vanilla farm is incredible. I couldn't believe that this is part of, of my job essentially. But it's literally in this rainforest, and you see the care that's put into it. And the orchids, they bloom [00:09:00] once a year, and they're hand-pollinated.
And then we actually see... They also have cardamom, and I, you know, tasted cardamom raw for the first time. And so for us, it is so crucial. It, it is why we exist really, is to be creating these partnerships on the ground, being able to visit the farms, and being able to show the best of Dominican Republic
Deanna: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No, that's super exciting, and it's, it's exciting to think about in particular that, of course, you are not the only company sourcing ingredients with this sort of, um, agroforestry or, um, reforestation mission, um, and, and certainly not biodiversity. But to find those other suppliers, um, that's, that's, uh, like, like you said, like it's very enchanting, but it's, it's also, um, a significant project in and of itself.
I wonder too, if you're sourcing other sort of more commodity style ingredients, if you wanna talk about working with those sorts of suppliers or even [00:10:00] packaging selection. Um, I'm thinking there might be something particular about the way your brand is making decisions there.
Elah: Yeah, it's funny that you mentioned packaging, and maybe this is a little bit of a, a tangent, but one of the-- So I'm on the brand and marketing side of, of the brand, of, yeah, of Moringaya. My brother is the, the plant man. Uh, but one of my favorite campaigns that we did is, uh, we actually had the women in our lab be the models, and they were on all of our website and still available on our website.
You can see the people behind Moringaya who actually makes your beauty products. And I think when people talk about sustainability now, they often talk about packaging or the consumer. Is the packaging recyclable? Is it compostable? But there's so much more to making a product that the consumer doesn't necessarily see, and there's so much the supply chain.
Of course, we know from the industry what the supply chain looks like, but the consumer doesn't. [00:11:00] And it's, it's not just about what the packaging is. It's where do the ingredients come from? How long did they have to travel? Who harvested the ingredients? How long ago were they harvested? How long did they travel?
And who actually made your beauty products? Uh, I think in the world of fashion, there's a little bit more consciousness from a consumer perspective of who's making your clothes, where were they made? And in the beauty industry, the consumer just gets into a store or into a retail space and sees a product and doesn't really think about what did it take for all of this to be in this beautiful, pretty packaging.
And so that's why this campaign really was, um, really important to us to show that these are the women that are mixing the products. This is actually how your product gets made. So it's a little bit of a tangent on, on the question, but the packaging, packaging, of course, is super important and, uh, we-- our latest lip balms are in a home compostable packaging, which is really cool, actually made from bamboo, [00:12:00] uh, bamboo.
Um, but yeah, it's just one part of the whole story.
Deanna: No, absolutely. No, and I, I appreciate your tangent for sure because, um, I was trying to remember if you did your own sort of manufacturing and filling, um, and it sounds like you do. I'm, I'm wondering, did you-- are you at a scale where you purchased, um, like manufacturing equipment from a machinery specialist in our industry?
Did you buy things secondhand, or are you using more, um, I don't, I don't even know, um, industrial kitchen equipment? Like where-- how did, how did you put together your manufacturing facility? Can you say something about that? '
Elah: Yeah, I can say that we're continuously growing and that we will have, uh, these kind of machinery needs. Because I come from the branding side, it's kind of I'm not the, the person to answer that question.
So I'm thinking, I can [00:13:00] say that, uh, doing our own manufacturing gives us a lot of flexibility and a lot of control, and that's something that, uh, is central to the product and to our philosophy and to the qu-- really speaks to the quality of the products.
Deanna: I would like to shift our conversation more toward the actual customer. Um, as we've suggested, Morag Guy is sold in the luxury hospitality channel, particularly the spa sector, and, and correct me there if I'm wrong, but I'm hoping you'll tell me why that's your channel of choice, , and then what you've learned as you've grown into that space.
Elah: I love the spa and hospitality sector. So Dominican Republic is very, uh, well-known for tourism. And I think for us it allows us to reach an international audience while we're still in Dominican Republic.
Uh, we're able to... People discover us when they're on vacation, which is the most optimal time to discover a new brand and to discover a new [00:14:00] experience. They're open-minded, they're open to new experiences, they're happy, they're relaxed. Uh, and so giving a Moringaia treatment, getting a Moringaia treatment on vacation and then going out and seeing the retail products creates for us such a, a kind of win-win situation.
Uh, it's really the, the optimized moments to meet a new brand and, uh, that has been really powerful for us. And then the consumer, once they go home, they can reorder online. And once, uh, people discover Moringaia and feel Moringaia on their skin and feel the effects of it, uh, they become a customer for, I wanna say for life.
Deanna: Yeah. Yeah, no, that's wonderful. And I have not gotten to visit the Dominican Republic, but I, I do often Google the locations before the interview, and very many, very beautiful photos came up. I can understand why it's a, a tourist destination. Can you say... Are you able to share publicly any of [00:15:00] the spas um,
Elah: Of course, just last year, uh, we started working with the St. Regis and with the W, and, uh, we've been working with Casa de Campo, which is, uh, not a chain, but an incredible partner for us, and many of the other, uh, kind of higher end hotel chains. So at the moment in the Dominican Republic, we're at, I would say, most of the luxury hospitality spas
Deanna: Right. Right. So then used in the treatment room at spas in these sorts of hotels, but then also probably on their retail shelf as, as the consumer is leaving. Yeah.
Elah: Um, and our treatments are really central to the brand as well because we create protocols that are very-- Our whole philosophy to the brand is that we use very pure ingredients and very, in a sense, simple ingredients, but it's really hard to make something simple. Uh, so lately I've been describing it like when you go to an Italian restaurant and you just eat an heirloom [00:16:00] tomato with olive oil and flaky sea salt, and it's the best tomato you've ever had, the best bite you've ever had in your life of everything.
And it's just because the ingredients are so fresh and so well-made and so pure. And that's kind of the philosophy that we have to our products is how do we make them as fresh as possible, as pure as possible, and least processed as possible as well. So, Our treatments are really built on this kind of philosophy as well, and we have full body treatments, scalp treatments, glow facial or morning glow facial glow is one of our iconic, uh, kind of spa treatments. And, uh, there's some products that are only exclusive to the s- that are exclusive to the spa, which also makes it really special.
And what happens, and, and I've seen customers tell us or even write about it in the press, that through this treatment, they really feel so connected to the ground and so rooted and so connected to the place they're in. [00:17:00] And, and even people that are maybe of Dominican heritage or Latin heritage feel kind of like a full circle moment where they really feel rooted and grounded, and, uh, that's really special to us.
Deanna: Yeah. No, that sounds lovely. Absolutely. And it, it reminds me that the other day you were telling me, and I, I've certainly read this about the brand as well, that moringa is something of a cultural symbol, a, a source of pride for people in the DR in particular. I'm wondering if you made a strategic effort to create that sort of affinity or how it, how it sort of came to be and, and if you can share a little bit about that feeling or, or, or how we might recognize it.
Elah: Of course. So we have the map of Dominican Republic on all of our boxes. It's something we've always been very proud to be made in Dominican Republic. Uh, I think historically there's been beauty ingredients that have been sourced in Dominican Republic [00:18:00] or in the Caribbean, in Latin America, uh, Brazil, and then made somewhere else.
Uh, but we're very proud of sourcing as much as possible as we can locally, as well as making the products locally. And there's so much that the Dominican Republic has to offer, and we're- we've just- it's- I wouldn't say it's strategic, it's just who we are and what we respond for and what we're really proud of
Deanna: Yeah. , that's, that's beautiful. I'm wondering if you can even say more about how we might sort of recognize this feeling of brand affinity or, or how you have, have come to realize it
Elah: I think that everyone that has a touch point with Moringiva, certainly in Dominican Republic, I think also beyond, but they really feel that they're a part of the brand and they're part of this whole supply chain. One of the things that I always repeat when we do brand trainings with the spa [00:19:00] therapist is that they're so key to the whole ecosystem, to planting more trees, to giving more jobs, uh, and that really makes them feel connected.
So the guest, of course, feels connected through the product themselves, but the people working with the products also feel like the brand belongs to them. And I always say, "This is yours. This is, this is all of ours." And, and that's something that we're also really proud of and, and is su-super fu-fulfilling.
And we see that everywhere. Whenever we get a, a press mention, we get so many people reposting and feeling so proud that it, that it's theirs. And it's kind of like our success is so many other people's success, uh, those that are working with the product, our partners, our, our clients, uh, the therapists, uh, really everywhere.
We saw that the first time, uh, when we were-- the first time we were in a major [00:20:00] retail shop, and we were placed between Chanel and Dior, and it was this Dominican brand between these huge beauty legacy brands, and everyone sent me pictures walking by it. It was, it was really kind of the first big milestone moment.
Um, and that's something that I'm personally super proud of, that it's really not, not just ours, it's everyone who, who has a touch point with the product.
Deanna: Absolutely. And certainly too, um, your brand res- reminds me a little bit of, of an expression that was popular in business, uh, in the late 1990s and, and maybe into the 2000s. We, we heard about this idea of people, planet, and profit. It's, it's clear from what you've shared with us today that, that this philosophy has moved forward.
Uh, brands like yours showcase how business continues to evolve really for the greater good. Ella, I thank you for this conversation, and I'm so glad you could join me today on the CosmoFactory podcast.
Elah: Thank you so much for having [00:21:00] me. It's such an honor,