Our Story

Salve Sister was founded in 2012 by Mary Ashby Brown, a former Fulbright scholar, agricultural economist, and poverty lawyer with a passion for natural beauty. To heal her own problematic skin, she began formulating simple natural products in her New York City kitchen. Soon afterward, she saw the opportunity to source all of her raw skincare ingredients from small farming communities in need of economic investment – and her dream of creating a skincare line from fair trade ingredients was born.

Mary Ashby was determined to go off the beaten path. For over two years, she poured her energy into researching and contacting individual farmers, fair trade organizations, small businesses, and agricultural cooperatives with the goal of finding high quality, organic or sustainably wild-harvested ingredients providing much-needed income for small farmers, especially women.

The result is Salve Sister: a unique fair trade and organic skincare line composed of simple, raw, beautifully effective ingredients.