Spotlight Interview:
ODE Natural Beauty
This month, we are excited to interview Tracy Tyon, Head of Beauty for ODE Natural Beauty. This brand creates luscious, fragrant body care products made from its very own estate-grown extra virgin certified organic olive oil. Read our interview below to learn more about the brand’s inception, the ranch where it all takes place, and favorite products.
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What was the inspiration behind the creation of ODE?
ODE natural beauty products reflect the spirit of McEvoy Ranch’s beautiful California coastal orchards. We use certified organic early harvest extra virgin olive oil, which delivers powerful polyphenol antioxidant protection to skin. An ode is a lyric verse expressing praise for a special person or place so ODE and all of our products and scents are a tribute to this special piece of land in Northern California, McEvoy Ranch, the olives we grow here, and the woman who made it all happen, our founder Nan McEvoy. We like to say that ODE is an acronym for “Olive Oil Does Everything” because we are constantly amazed by the numerous benefits our extra virgin olive oil brings to the skin. Not only is it hydrating, but because we harvest our olives early and mill organically it has a high antioxidant-content and is rich with natural squalene.
What is McEvoy Ranch and how does it relate to ODE?
Our founder, Nan Tucker McEvoy was a woman of strength, who possessed vision, passion and an entrepreneurial spirit. At the young age of 72, Nan set out to make the world’s best olive oil on 550 acres of land that she had fallen in love with on a drive out to the coast. Despite being told it couldn’t be done, Nan preserved. She brought over 3,000 olive samplings from Italy to McEvoy Ranch where they were nurtured, propagated, and planted to create an olive oil that is today listed in the index World’s Best Olive Oils. Our estate-produced, organic olive oil is the heart and soul of ODE body and NEW skincare collections. Nan’s uncompromising pursuit of excellence and reverence for the land and natural beauty continues to inspire us in all that we do. McEvoy Ranch is the home of ODE natural beauty.
What is your favorite ODE product and why?
It is difficult to narrow it down to just one product, but if I have to choose, I love our Olive Oil and Sea Salt Body Scrub. The fine-grain sea salt luxuriously sloughs away my dry skin and the high olive oil content leaves my skin silky soft and dreamy. I use it all year round.
What is your most popular product?
Our hero product is the Olive Oil Body Balm in all four scents; Verde, Lavender, Bohemian Rose, and Citrus. The body balm was really how ODE started. Many years ago, one of the McEvoy Ranch gardeners infused our olive oil with freshly-harvested botanicals and created a balm out of it to sooth his weathered hands. Everyone at the ranch fell in love with it so we started to sell it alongside our organic olive oil, flower bouquets, and vegetables at the Marin County Farmers Market where it developed a serious cult following. The product is like a deep hydration spa treatment when massaged into cuticles, elbows, knees and any spot that needs little extra moisturizing. I like to slather it on my feet prior to bedtime and slip on a pair of cotton socks. By morning my feet have absorbed all of that green-gold goodness and look and feel so soft.
What has been the most rewarding part of creating ODE?
Sharing both the beauty of McEvoy Ranch and the actual benefit of our olive oil, first to our local community at the farmer’s market, and now nationally through a full body care collection has been amazing. Also, it is super exciting to see our new olive oil skincare line launching. We have had so many requests over the years to take the next step and incorporate our early harvest olive oil into a skincare line and that is now happening as we speak.
Who is ODE’s target market?
Our products are really for anyone who wants to mindfully use all natural clean-green beauty products that are not tested on animals. We have a variety of natural scents in our bath & body line so that there is something that will appeal to everyone, and our new skincare line is a carefully crafted skincare regime that works well with all skin types.
Why is being Leaping Bunny certified important to ODE?
We are proud that our products bear the Leaping Bunny certification as it is the well-recognized and respected seal that says we are committed to being cruelty-free. McEvoy Ranch is a haven for wildlife. There is not a day that goes by that we don’t encounter deer, wild turkeys, bees, and our very own leaping bunnies in our orchards and vineyards. We are stewards of this land and the animals that call it home so it has an even more personal meaning to all of us.
What is something unique about ODE that others may not know?
Our packaging is inspired by our olives and olive oil. As our Tuscan olive varieties ripen, their bright green color begins to blush turning from greenish-yellow, to pink and deep purple. ODE’s packaging reflects this naturally occurring transformation as it also corresponds to their scent inspirations: Verde, Citrus Oro, Bohemian Rose and Lavender.
Besides ODE Natural Beauty, McEvoy Ranch is a producer and marketer of fine Extra Virgin Olive Oil, specialty foods, wine, merchandise, and events. Through innovation and tradition, we craft our passion for food, wine, natural beauty, and the arts into products and experiences of unparalleled quality.
Shop ODE Natural Beauty and save 15% off with the promo code below.
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