Women In Wellness: Maria Juliana Morales of Mind Naturals On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
We couldn’t think about overall wellness without taking into account the wellness of the planet and how we could impact the world. Being part of the beauty industry, this is extremely important as it is highly regarded as a very contaminated industry. To combat this, we always think about developing products that are good for you and for the planet.
As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Maria Juliana Morales.
Maria Juliana Morales is the driving force behind MIND NATURALS.
With a broad brand management background in the beauty and wellness space for companies including L’Oreal and Loto del Sur and as a lifelong enthusiast of the incredible biodiversity of her native Colombia, Maria Juliana helps to bring the richness and vitality of the equatorial rainforest to this skincare collection.
As a featured guest speaker and beauty industry commentator in Colombia and internationally, Maria Juliana looks forward to introducing the energy of Latin American beauty through the MIND NATURALS skincare collections to new audiences all over the world.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I’m latina, I was born in Cali, Colombia, very close to the countryside. Being raised in Colombia between the city and the countryside is what inspired me and made me very passionate about nature, its benefits and the results it can bring.
I have a major in design and have had the opportunity to work for global beauty brands, including larger brands and smaller indie brands. I have always been inspired to bring richness to the brands I work with, especially the indie brands while they are still in their growth phase.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
I believe the most interesting process I have been a part of during my career has been developing the Roots Collection for Mind Naturals as it meant to immerse consumers in the most luscious and vibrant ingredients from Colombia.
As I grew up in Cali, in the southwest of Colombia, I was exposed to nature, crops, and citrus plants and really began to understand their benefits. I was constantly amazed by the discovery of all the things that nature can provide. Discovering and sharing Colombia’s biodiversity and story through skincare has been an incredible honor and one of the most fulfilling experiences.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Sometimes between the process of developing the marketing campaigns and assets, we can get lost and miss the essence of our brand.
Through the process we get to analyze all the benchmarks and trends among the beauty and skincare industry, and in some cases this analysis can influence our thinking and change some of our most unique ideas into copies of what’s trending. Therefore the biggest mistake has been to lose a unique idea because it seemed to be very different from the current trends. We would try to adapt our communications to fit the trends and we would forget what actually made us special: our Latiness.
The most important lesson I learned from this is to always stay true to yourself and embrace YOUR stories, even if it means it is different from what’s popular and you may have to educate through your communications with consumers.
We found true fulfillment when we leveraged and embraced our Roots with Mind Naturals — this process has meant everything for the brand.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
There are three areas we are focused on at Mind Naturals to help make the world a better place: formulation, sustainability, and community.
Firstly, skincare effectiveness depends on the formulas. For this, we carefully develop formulas with over 97% of natural ingredients, in which every ingredient is selected under the EWG list standards to take care of our users and provide safe products. This also means our formula is paraben, sulfate and phthalates free. As we established these standards, all of our decisions ensure people receive effective and safe formulas.
Second, we couldn’t think about overall wellness without taking into account the wellness of the planet and how we could impact the world. Being part of the beauty industry, this is extremely important as it is highly regarded as a very contaminated industry. To combat this, we always think about developing products that are good for you and for the planet.
We are fully immersed in our sustainability journey, where we always make decisions under a conscious and sustainability mindset. For example, we changed all of our packaging to be sustainable, finding 100% biodegradable packaging that doesn’t leave any impact, or packages made from sugarcane plastic. We won’t stop there — we are constantly looking for new developments in sustainable packaging. We also know the sourcing of our ingredients makes a difference, so we try to locally source most of our ingredients and help to develop local economies.
Third, building community can make a huge difference, as daily habits directly affect people’s lives. At Mind, we wanted to create a greater connection with our users as skincare is such a personal experience — nobody else will do it for you, and it is a self love act. Through all of our communications and rituals we leverage self love and self care, always seeding positive insights and expressing how important personal moments are. We stress the importance of positive thoughts and self-talk, as these thoughts and feelings reflect in our actions toward ourselves and others. That’s the source of real beauty, it all starts in your mind.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
- Create a self care routine that you can easily incorporate into your routine
- Remember to move your body and remain active
- Stay curious: read, paint, meditate, or find another hobby to keep your mind active
- Stay connected to nature — walk barefoot on the grass
- Disconnect yourself from all tech devices at least 40 minutes before you go to sleep
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I would start a self-love movement. I believe when you love yourself for your best qualities while also recognizing your flaws, you learn your true self and the care you give yourself improves. This will impact the way you interact with others positively. Additionally, if you love yourself, it can lead to more positive and loving feelings towards your home, community, and planet.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- Know the value you bring to every situation that you are in
- Look for ordinary moments in your day that you can make extraordinary
- Ups and downs are part of your personal growth, take in every moment and embrace the joys of success and the learning opportunities of hardships
- Look for opportunities to connect what you do with what you are passionate about
- Most of the answers can be found through observation: stop, watch and listen
- Don’t be afraid to stop and take a few steps back
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health is very important to me and has been one of the key causes we have been focusing on at Mind. Our days are defined by the way we think and feel and our daily habits greatly affect our mental health. It is important that we address mental health through awareness, education, and resources.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
@mindnaturals
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
Women In Wellness: Maria Juliana Morales of Mind Naturals On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.