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Helena Mendès, Founder of Mawena
Mawena is a luxury, vegan and cruelty-free skincare brand, born in 2013 by Helena Mendès; the French beauty-preneur who is restoring the lives of the people in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
During a trip she had taken to Chiapas, Mexico, centuries of tradition and culture were exchanged between Mendès and the Mayan women she met there. Mawena’s key ingredient is extracted from the bark of the mimosa tenuiflora; a generational beauty secret she had discovered through the Mayan women.
She spent years after conducting further research on the ingredient of which now has a patent. The healing properties in Mawena’s products have also led to the range being used by the Mexican Red Cross to treat burn victims.
Through the inception of Mawena, Mendès has employed 6 women from the state of Chiapas who are now able to provide for their families. She aims to work with the Mayan community to support in providing education and development, including building and developing schools in their remote villages, essentially then not only providing opportunities to learn, but also employment.
Mendès, who was born in France however, is from African heritage; Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, has plans to expand her work to Africa and Asia. Her goal is to hire all the women that have been shut down in the beauty industry and improve the lives of people.
Mendès who had no prior experience within the industry learnt from scratch and recalls the necessary mistakes she has made with her partner, her suppliers, and even through the loss of money. “I’m lucky enough to have a supportive investor behind me, that trusts me, trusts my instinct, and trusts the fact that I’m not gonna let the project down.”
“In 2021, #IPLEDGE to take Mawena to a new level, an international level. I want to get more customers involved in our mission. I don’t know if I will be able to travel as I used to, but I would love to go back to Mexico and bring some personnel with me, create some new content and show a little bit more about the life of these women so people can understand where they’re coming from. I would also love to give more time to sustainable projects.”