Josie Maran is Chicological
When we first checked in with this ecoista, her eponymous line was just testing the waters of green consumerism at Barney’s while she spoke out on behalf of Global Green, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and Teens for Safe Cosmetics. Since then, she’s gotten even more active in the healthy parenting movement, becoming a board member of Anna Getty’s new Pregnancy Awareness Month organization (Go Anna!) and contributing an essay to the new Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home book (Go Christopher!). And her uber-chic, eco-friendly makeup line is blowing up—selling through the roof on QVC and recently launched at Sephora (we’ve got video to prove it). Josie Maran is all-faceted: a model, actress, mother, greentrepreneur and sustainable living activist who is above all things chicological.
ES: Do you think people are more aware now of green options in beauty?
JM: I think so. I hope so. We’ve had such an incredibly positive response to JMC. People were ready for it.
ES: Do you think you helped set the bar?
JM: I do. I think people realize that it’s possible now so they’re creating beautiful green products. It’s a chicological sort of thing.
ES: Chicological? That’s awesome! What does it mean?
JM: You like it? It means you don’t have to sacrifice. You can take care of your health, and the planet’s health while having something that’s as good—if not better—than a regular product. The point is to be sustainable and even buy less, have less, be less of a consumer. Only buy it if you need it. Which is a really interesting story coming from me, in the context of Josie Maran Cosmetics. It’s my job to figure out how to balance that message. But it’s all about balance, right?
ES: Right! How is your work with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics going?
JM: They are very supportive of our line. Because we’re a small company, we can change our formulations as new research comes in on the formulations. We use the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database to gauge our ingredients’ toxicity level. And if new studies come in they call us and say this ingredient isn’t going to work, and we take it out. It’s hard for our chemists but it’s a great reminder of what I’m doing. It’s easy to make good product but it’s harder to make good products that are healthy—and that’s what I signed up for. They’re good at keeping me in line with our original vision. Right now we’re reformulating a few things. The main ingredient that’s coming out is BHT. It went up in its toxicity level due to some new tests. And people know about it—bloggers are emailing me, telling me they love the line but they won’t use something with BHT. So we’re taking it out. We already reformulated and the new version is just as good.
ES: Why did you decide to start working with organizations like Healthy Child and PAM?
JM: The basis of my line is health. And I believe that if you’re really going to make a change you have to start with children, and before that with pregnant mamas. It starts at the roots. I believe it starts with moms—and dads—but moms have a lot of power. I’m all about education. I hope to one day use the money from projects like Josie Maran Cosmetics to fund schools, great healthy schools that are free. But I can’t afford to do that yet so I’m working with organizations to help educate people about healthy pregnancy and parenting.
ES: Tell us about your green pregnancy and birth experience.
JM: I thought I knew a lot about a healthy life and then I got pregnant. When you’re pregnant you become really nitpicky about finding every ingredient and researching everything in your life. It really started with yoga at Golden Bridge with Anna Getty. That is such a wonderful center for education, to learn about health and alternative ways to be in the world, natural childbirth and getting the support you need—you feel so safe and know that it’s the right step. I think it really goes back to that. This line grew out of the research and education and openness that I experienced when I was pregnant. When you’re pregnant you’re really open to being really who you want to be.
ES: What’s next for you?
JM: What’s not next! I guess learning how to balance ecopreneurship. And slowing down!
