Megan Larsen was operating a health food store in Perth when she dabbled in making natural skincare on her kitchen bench.
At first, it was just for her. But then customers at her shop started buying it — and before she knew it, she’d built a full-blown skincare brand from scratch. Two decades on, it’s multimillion-dollar, internationally renowned business Sodashi.
“It didn’t take long to see the gap in the market,” Larsen tells STM. “People often refer to me as pioneer (but) I like to say an early adopter.”
Larsen was an early adopter —so early, in fact, that the wellness space as we know it today didn’t really exist. Back in 1999, there were no distributors to turn to, not to mention the internet’s absence, so she went straight to the source. For example, she sourced cold-pressed avocado oil directly from farmers.
It’s the connection between skincare and emotional wellness, which have remained the key pillar of Sodashi’s ethos.
“(Sodashi) not only works on the skin, it also works on emotional and mental wellness, and the reason for that is essential oils. When you inhale an essential oil, it sends a message to the limbic system that has an ability to uplift you. It can move stuck emotions (and) rebalance thoughts,” she says.
The vegan and cruelty-free skincare is not only available on their online store but a plethora of retailers — MECCA and Adore Beauty to name a few.
And for chose checking into luxury hotel chains including the Four Seasons, the products are right there waiting in the spa or suite: a testament to the brand’s global reach and elevated reputation.
“We’ve built a wonderful reputation and I do know that that people feel safe with Sodashi,” she says.
Larsen named the brand after the Sanskrit word for “wholeness, purity and radiance” — everything she aims to embody in each bottle of product.