Lotion Stick + Lip Balm

Mele Kalama-Kingma, owner of Mamalani, always had a natural interest in healthy lifestyles as she grew up across the street from Kailua beach and was either surfing, canoe paddling or swimming. She went to college to learn about nutrition and became a Registered Dietitian in 2008. She started working in the hospital and food service settings and then at community health centers whose main population were Native Hawaiians.

Her health interest piqued when she worked as a cultural nutritionist in which she learned how plant foods and plant medicines were one in the same!  It was at the same time that she started having children and noticed changes in her body and skin that were new to herself. She started to smell in ways she wasn't used to and had to start using deodorant more regularly than before. She experimented with a body powder as her first underarm deodorant after realizing that powder is a very useful application for the hot and humid lifestyle we have in Hawaii! She also researched the ingredients most commonly found in deodorants and it was then that she felt the need to merge both her traditional plant knowledge and nutrition background to create Mamalani in 2012.  

Mele decided to name her company, Mamalani, after one of the most influential people in her life, my grandmother. Her nickname was "Mamalani," which also translates to "woman who reveres heaven." Their logo represents the connection that we as Hawaiians have with the heavens and earth.  They represent the traditions of ancestors while also merging the needs of modern day. Mele has created a line of natural body products that use the best the land has to offer while also valuing our resources; you will see this in their packaging efforts.  

A very crucial part of their success is based on the abundance of the land and its people.