Shea Terra’s Amazing Beauty Mission
For over two decades, Shea Terra Organics’ founder, Tammie Umbel, has been helping native Africans preserve their wildlife habitats by sharing their indigenous healing ingredients with the world.
Not only do Shea Terra Organics’ skin care treatments assist in preservation, they are also the backbone of economic sustainability for many hardworking families across the African continent. Since 1999, Shea Terra Organics has worked closely with cooperatives and conservation groups to introduce Africa’s time-tested ingredients, such as mongongo oil and east African shea butter, to the world.
Shea Terra Organics was the vision of Tammie’s quest to create a market for natural products from third world countries, which would help alleviate poverty while preserving diminishing natural habitats. Sufferers of skin ailments across the world sought out Tammie’s therapeutic grade African shea butter products because they were amazingly affordable at a time when shea butter was sold at hundreds of dollars per pound.
“Shea butter, straight from the African source, was really cheap. So many people needed it for its therapeutic benefits, but could not afford it due to its artificially high price. Women across the shea butter belt literally had tons they couldn’t sell due to low demand of this 'costly' butter. What I did was make high-quality east African shea butter products available to everyone at unheard of prices. The result was a shea butter revolution. Large bulk suppliers selling to the skin care industry further undercut my prices and shea butter has spread like wildfire ever since. I am very pleased with this accomplishment. Finally, there is a demand market for the women to sell their nilotica shea butter, and so many sufferers with painful and disfiguring skin care problems are now able to afford relief,” expresses Tammie Umbel. Shea Terra Organics’ original company, African Shea Butter Company, successfully catapulted into an already saturated skin care market, setting new trends in the industry.
Realizing the immense impact that a single ingredient like shea butter could have on the world, Tammie Umbel began seeking out other rare and indigenous ingredients that could enhance or compliment the benefits of shea butter. Working closely with cooperatives, scientists, conservationists and non-profits, Tammie actively seeks out ingredients little known outside of remote parts of Africa, which include marula oil, black seed oil, mongongo oil, African black soap, and more. Not only are these time-tested ingredients highly therapeutic, they also bring income and awareness to preserve natural habitats which would otherwise be destroyed. Shea Terra Organics was thus rebranded in a quest to reveal Africa’s ancient skin care therapies -- in time to preserve them before they are lost forever.
