Yara Shea Beauty
Yara Shea Beauty is a fledgling company that makes and produces Shea Butter products that were founded in 2010 by NGUZO OGBODO, a Nigerian-born entrepreneur, visionary, lawyer, and teacher. Nguzo has taken this popular all-natural ingredient and created a luxurious five-item product line that is refreshing to the skin, non-toxic, and works on all skin types. But the real story is how Nguzo uses the proceeds from the sales of these products to impact and empower young girls and women in her native Nigeria. So far, she has opened nine WASH (Wash And Sanitation Hygiene) Libraries in nine public schools and just finished building a Community Center and Safe Space where young girls are taught menstrual hygiene and gather for sex seminars and related workshops.
THE PROBLEM”We are trying to sell Shea Butter products with a Purpose,” said Nguzo, during an interview with fashionedits.com. “It’s going to change and empower a young girl’s life. It will give her the confidence to stay in school because, in some communities, young ladies are forced to stay at home during their menstrual cycles. With my program, they’ll be able to read and write, it will be the first generation to go to school. Hygiene and menstrual health are not talked about, it’s a cultural taboo. This issue is not freely discussed, it’s 99% subdued.” Nguzo continued; “The communities I’m serving are in the Northern States of Nigeria. People go on years of suffering in fear of how people may treat them, in my own little way I’m having a platform with my products. I have 23 schools and am working with 50,000 students in the menstrual hygiene programs. Some of my girls are in college now and are teaching their communities. A simple thing like washing hands is ignored, so when the pandemic hit, it really impacted that part of my program. It’s not an easy task, especially when we have a President of Nigeria who said `His wife’s place is in the kitchen and the other room’ Women are subdued.”
THE PRODUCT Nguzo said she launched the basic 5 item product line, all based on natural Shea Butter from Ghana. The line consists of; Shea Butter Lotion, Shea Butter Cream, Whipped Body Butter, Creamy Body Wash, and African Black Soap. There are unscented products, plus those infused with essential oils like lavender, citrus, and T-Tree oil. Shea Butter is nothing new to Nguzo who revealed; “I used Shea Butter as a kid growing up in Nigeria. My kid was born at 5 months, premature and he had eczema and extremely dry skin. As a premature baby, he had to stay under the lights. I tried everything on his skin and nothing seemed to work. One day, a woman told me to use Shea Butter and within two months, he was good.”
THE CREATOR Nguzo Ogbodo left Nigeria after secondary school and went to London. She attended Wolverhampton University, gaining her Master’s degree. Armed with her MBA, Nguzo recalled that in Nigerian culture you’re expected to get married after a certain age. “A young man came to London to marry me, we married and had three kids…that marriage brought me to the U.S. where I attended Pace University and got my LLM.” As a lawyer Nguzo worked for Bear Sterns for two and a half years before they went bankrupt. She also worked for several law firms after that, before moving back to Nigeria with the family to work as a Barrister of Law. That’s when Nguzo saw firsthand the disparity of young girls and women and decided to form a non-profit organization.
THE GOALNguzo got her first grant recently from the AHF and is on a mission to change lives. She said her goal is to get raw Shea butter from Nigeria and not Ghana because Nigeria has so many other natural resources like coal, oil, and gold. “As a woman I am inspired by women, being a woman of grace I feel incredibly fortunate to build a business that I love and impact lives. We are here on earth to be of service to others. I believe in uplifting the earth – that’s the only way we can grant Love.”
Please visit: https://www.etsy.com/shop/YaraSheaBeauty or yarasheabeauty.com or call 347-701-3770 for orders and more information.
