OUR FOUNDER
OUR FOUNDER (AND FORMULATOR)
At Maya Chia, we are obsessive about formulating – and results. We have spent years and literally hundreds of iterations just to create one product.
Susanne Norwitz is the founder and formulator of Maya Chia. She always had a passion for skincare [her father was a plastic surgeon]. A clean beauty enthusiast, Susanne felt that advances in marketing were unaccompanied by advances in efficacy. The promises of new products all seemed to fall flat. Consumers were longing for real results, and Susanne set out to create a game-changing line that redefined clean-beauty standards.
The Chia seeds powering Maya Chia's formulations are sourced from Guatemala - home of the Maya people. For centuries, the Maya people have used Chia seeds as a nutrient-dense food source. And of the past few decades, science has affirmed what the Maya people have always known. Chia seeds have unparalleled health and wellness properties.
Susanne's connection to the Maya people dates back to her childhood. Susanne's father, a renowned surgeon, performed cleft lip and palate repair on the Maya people of Guatemala.
At a young age, Susanne remembers her father's stories in which he recounted the rich culture of the Maya people.
Her affinity for the Mayas only grew with the addition of her two stepchildren, both born in Guatemala. Susanne's discovery of Chia's skin benefits and importance for the Maya - coupled with her determination to create an unrivaled skincare brand - paved the way for Maya Chia's inception.
Prior to starting Maya Chia, Susanne was a political and Fortune 100 speechwriter working with C-suite executives. She holds a masters degree from Harvard University.
Since launching Maya Chia, the brand has become one of the most decorated in the clean beauty space. Her formulations break through the clutter of the clean and conventional beauty landscape. We like to believe Maya Chia is changing the clean beauty landscape - one formulation at a time.
Formulating the future
Cultivate. Create. Innovate.
Our guiding principle is simple and unwavering: superior ingredients (backed by clinical studies), when deftly formulated, act as super food for the skin. From the start, Maya Chia has carefully crafted a product line based on rigorous peer-reviewed clinical research. We rely on science, not slick marketing, to create products that work. Each of our super ingredients brings something special to the mix, and together, they achieve unmistakable results.
As our brand name suggests, Chia oil is the mainstay of all products in the Maya Chia line. Our patented supercritical extraction method for Chia oil magnifies this product's potency, allowing us to deliver the purest and most effective form of this powerhouse ingredient.
Nothing excites us more than sourcing raw materials from every corner of the globe. Maya Chia uses the highest quality ingredients to create exceptional formulations that continually push the boundaries of clean beauty innovation.
While Chia is in our name, we don't just stop at this super food. We apply the same rigor in finding the highest-performing ingredients to every aspect of our formulations.
For example, Maya Chia was one of the first skincare brands to bring the powerhouse ingredient, Astaxanthin (65x stronger than Vitamin C), to the beauty market. The same is true for Azelaic Acid, Tranexamic Acid and more. These are just a few staples in our formulas that work to create category-defying skin and haircare.
Maya Chia products are formulated, produced and perfected in our Charleston, South Carolina solar-powered laboratories by our founder, Susanne Norwitz. With every product we sell, Maya Chia gives back to the people of Central America as the Corporate Sponsor of Adopt-a-Village Guatemala.
MISSION & PROMISE
Maya Chia skin care products use the highest quality natural, organic and wildcrafted ingredients from conscious growers across the world. Our products are never formulated with parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances, PEGs, or SLSs. All of our products are made in the USA from domestic and imported components.
Maya Chia uses a patented process to extract the oil called supercritical extraction. The gentle oxygen-free, solvent-free process results in oil with a total absence of chemical residues and impurities, and one that most closely mirrors the chemical profile of the plant. What that means for our customer is that they get the best, purest, most stable, effective, and potent chia oil in the market with up to an 18 month shelf life.
