A Natural Essence Of Hawaii
Dana Roberts, owner of Malie Organics, is helping husband Shawn launch a new antioxidant beverage, Kona Red
With Dana Roberts
Owner of Malie Organics
Please tell us about your business. Malie Organics is Hawaii’s premier luxury spa and beauty brand. We have products for the home, body and spirit. Our collections include Pikake, Coconut Vanilla and Mango Nectar. Malie Organics has been in business almost eight years.
What kind of products do you sell? Our range of products can be anywhere from body creams to body washes, hand soaps and perfumes. We have 65 retail products.
Where can people purchase your products? At our online store, malie.com. We also have our flagship boutique where you can really get a feel for the Malie lifestyle here in Kalaheo, and we have retailers throughout the island like the St. Regis Spa, where we developed a custom Maile Taro Program exclusively for them.
What is the program? I develop a lot of custom spa programs for Hawaii’s premier spas. For example, I’ll come up with a concept or idea that I feel really resembles the spa and I’ll develop a line of products around that.
Why did you get started in this business? About 10 years ago I started having children Jordan (10) and Nathan (4) and wanted to be in an environment that was much closer to nature. When I first moved here 10 years ago I was really captured by the difference when you look around and see what Hawaii has to offer as far as its natural bounty, and I just decided that I wanted to share that with the world.
How did you get started in this business? I spent about a year and a half thinking about Malie. This is actually the third brand in the natural segment that my husband, Shawn, and I have been involved with. And really when I started thinking about Malie, I wanted a natural essence of Hawaii. So we spent time developing the concept of a Hawaiian hydrosol: pure plant distillations used in the products.
Do you use only organic ingredients? We use a minimum of 70 percent organic.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your business?
I love what I do it’s challenging to find that magic. And I have an amazing team of people who help to make this possible, like all the girls in the office and all of my suppliers and vendors. I’ve got a whole team of people who work really well together.
What is Kona Red? A company launched by my husband. It is a new, antioxidant wellness beverage powered by the coffee fruit.
How do you come up with your different product lines? I just have a very clear vision for this company and for its products. I’ve had plenty of failures, which led me to know what success is. Perfumes are a perfect example. I just launched our organic perfumes, but it took me launching two other products that were marginal to really come up with the magic mix that is this perfume.
What are your plans for the future? Malie is going into a new brand extension of apparel March 1. Now the inspiration for Hawaii’s nature, instead of going into a bottle, will actually be going into the development of this clothing line. Malie means calm, serene or tranquil, so we’re looking for clothes that are very easy to wear, casual-type of lifestyle when you’re feeling very relaxed. And it’s inspired by Hawaii. We’re taking the visuals that we see in nature, whether it’s the colors, combinations, collections, and really have a visual for communicating our nature that hasn’t been done on clothing. We usually have this vision of the ’50s aloha shirt, and it’s going to be nothing like that. I’m bringing Hawaii to the clothes in a way that hasn’t been done before.
What advice do you have for others who want to start a business? You need to have a clear vision. And for something that is really comprehensive, it takes time. Though I discover when I run into a lot of barriers, I realize very quickly that that vision is not meant to be.
2-2560 Kaumualii Hwy. 332-6220 866-767-5727 malie.com
