Our Aveda Ambassador Elyse Knowles recently travelled to Chandigarh, India to be immersed in the history of Aveda, connecting Elyse to the brand’s uniquely holistic approach of marrying high-performance, on-trend beauty to wellness and environmental awareness.
Elyse was able live and breathe our Aveda brand mission and ethos and discover firsthand how we create products that are sustainably sourced, packaged and manufactured, with a commitment to transparency, authenticity and giving back.
“I had never been to India so this was such an exciting trip” Said Elyse Knowles, Aveda’s National Brand Ambassador.. “It was also amazing to learn firsthand about ingredient transparency from the Aveda R&D team, and their insight on the sourcing of naturally derived ingredients from around the world was so inspiring,”
“I particularly loved a session that was hosted in the forest by Aveda’s Executive Director of Botanical Research, Cindy Angerhofer. Cindy was so knowledgeable about sourcing ingredients, and the local communities and farmers Aveda work with and support. As well as the benefit of every single ingredient that goes into the products, she also brought a number of ingredients and Ayurvedic herbal extracts with her—my favourites were the turmeric, ginger and alma.”
Keeping the community at the forefront, Aveda has developed close working partnerships that upholds our mission of caring for the world we live in. One of our Ayurvedic partnership is with the Indian firm, Nisarga. Nisarga means “nature” in Sanskrit - an Indian firm that grows Ayurvedic herbs using organic and biodynamic agriculture. Aveda partners with this community to source organic turmeric and amla for use in the Invati Advanced range. Turmeric grows at Nisarga's organic Umbari farm in Satara, which creates jobs for nearby villagers.
“Aveda sources multiple ingredients from India, including organic amla and turmeric, which are in Aveda’s Invati Advanced [hair] products. In one particular session, we heard about an organic farm located in Umbari, Maharashtrot—not only do Aveda source turmeric from this village, but they also have supported the village via the installation of a pipeline and storage tank to provide them with clean water. Aveda also provide funds and support for these women to establish kitchen gardens, which gives them with fresh vegetables.”
“Aveda create products with purpose—always with the goal of positively impacting people and the world. Cruelty-free, with no animal testing. With powerful botanical science and aromas. With 100% wind powered manufacturing, Aveda are committed to making beautiful, safe, eco-friendly products with naturally derived ingredients that work for consumers and their values”, added Knowles.
