NaturaBrasil
An interview with Roger Schmid, head of NaturaBrasil US.
In 1969, Luiz Seabra founded NaturaBrasil, a leading Brasilian cosmetics brand committed to utilizing the landscapes’ natural and unique biodiversity. Roger Schmid is the head of NaturaBrasil here in the US. BWB caught up with Roger on Natura’s successful US launch and how the company is taking care of the planet while changing the face of Global beauty.
Can you tell us a little about Brazilian beauty and the communities you work with to source your ingredients?
Our mission is to create sustainable development for the region that will benefit its inhabitants and conserve the forest. These initiatives are focused on socio-biodiversity.
Brazilian beauty and more specifically Natura’s vision of Brazilian beauty is linked to the development of cosmetics as promoters of well-being, what we call Bem-Estar-Bem. We want our customers to feel good about themselves, experience well-being through our products, but also encourage gratifying relationships with others, and with nature. It’s a deeply felt sense of purpose that drives us all.
Our link with various communities in the Amazon is deep. We don’t go through intermediaries and have been working with these families for many years. Our mission is to create sustainable development for the region that will benefit its inhabitants and conserve the forest. These initiatives are focused on socio-biodiversity.
By valuing traditional knowledge and local culture, we aim to develop knowledge and innovation in the Amazon for the Amazon. Our Eco-Park site near the Amazon Delta in Benevides includes both manufacturing and research, and our goal is to stimulate the creation not only of increased local production, but also of social Innovation and education.
We believe that the best way to protect the forest and its biodiversity is by creating an alternative economy.
YOUR INSPIRATION
For starting your business
Founder Luiz Seabra’s inspiration to start Natura was linked to building something different, not promising eternal youth, but promoting well-being and honest products.
How to be an effective leader
To be an effective leader you must start by being passionate about what you do. In our case we are passionate about cosmetics, the preservation of nature and a strong connection to our customers. Leadership comes from sharing these beliefs openly and showing emotion, drive.
How to stay creative
To stay creative you must understand that what counts is not just the idea, but the execution. You must be a doer.
YOUR DAY
Morning routine
My morning routine involves taking time. Washing up and getting ready is more than hygiene. It’s a warm up phase for the day to come, and you might as well start with a smile, enjoy the warm water, travel through scent, and moisturize your skin. For fall, I love NaturaBrasil’s Body Butter in Cacau. The formula is incredibly rich and the scent is warm and nutty – perfect for the cooler months.
Health/Wellness Routines
Of course staying healthy implies exercise and the right diet, but in my case I have learned that you reach wellness and overall comfort if you try to use all your senses. Pause and watch the sky, smell your food, listen to the birds, feel the cashmere of your sweater.
Evening relaxation
In the evening I try hard not to over-watch the news, read in bed, cuddle my wife.
YOUR CITY :
IN BRAZIL
What you love most
São Paulo has a special energy, like so many big cities built on immigration. It’s vibrant.
Favorite afternoon café/Go-to lunch place
Santo Grau is a great café for breakfast or a light lunch.
A night on the town
Natura just opened the Casa Natura Musical, possibly the best place for music in São Paulo now.
MUST-HAVES
Go-to products
Recently I have been addicted to Aesop‘s products, our sister company, particularly the parsley range. Natura’s skincare will come next year.
Favorite Perfume
It’s a new perfume called Terra, which we will launch soon. It expresses the warmth of Brazil’s earth, a warm, sensual scent that totally embraces you.
A few Brazilian beauty tips?
The best tip is to accept yourself. Care about your face, hair and body, but more than anything don’t worry about being perfect or imitating someone else.
NATURABRASIL
NaturaBrasil’s vision for a better world?
Our vision is linked to the belief that we are increasingly moving to a more conscious and responsible world, where instant gratification and excessive consumption will progressively disappear to the benefit of more reasoned purchasing choices, taking more responsibilities for ourselves, our communities and the wider planet.
Bestsellers & latest products?
Some of our specialty products are doing really well. Consumers love our hair products, particularly our Patauá Hair Oil which is great for dry, unruly hair. It’s lightweight but very replenishing. Our Murumuru Hair Mask is another stand-out product, a great treatment for boosting shine and hair health.
Our Triple Phase Shower Oils are also doing really well.
Brazilians love to moisturize in the shower and it’s a new experience for Americans that they are really enjoying. And of course our Castanha Hand Cream is #1. It’s our best-seller all over the world.
Any upcoming products/projects?
While we have sets we sell year-round, we also have some amazing gift sets that we have created for holiday, including a Soap Collection that features 5 of our best-selling soaps and a Hand Cream Trio of our best-selling hand creams.
One of our other favorite Holiday collections is the Cumbuca Set, which comes in 3 scents: Cacau, Castanha and Maracujá. Each set includes a soap, hand cream and body butter or body mousse packaged in a woven box that is handmade by the Artesanato do Trançado Tupinamba – Copartt cooperative in Bahia, Brazil.
In addition to our holiday gift sets, we are also launching a new scent for holiday called Cumaru. Its warm, rustic aura is reminiscent of vanilla, with touches of cinnamon, almond and cloves and brings a comforting sensation to the body. We will be offering an agua, liquid hand soap, hand lotion, creamy body soap, and candle in this scent.
Brazilian beauty and more specifically Natura’s vision of Brazilian beauty is linked to the development of cosmetics as promoters of well-being, what we call Bem-Estar-Bem.
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