Message From CEO Grace the background story

As the founder and CEO of a certified organic personal care company many mistakenly believe I must have grown up in a health commune or been raised by "hippies". The truth is the complete opposite - I grew up in an ordinary suburban family where processed junk food was the "treat" for the week.

I started my working life as a legal secretary and went on to become a legal researcher. It was a workmate who first introduced me to the concept of toxin free living however, it was not until I was expecting my first child ten years ago that I began to seek out organic food. Pregnancy is the time when women are at their most receptive to new ideas and I was no exception!

I developed a skin condition during pregnancy and as a result started to become conscious of the personal care products I was using. I started to buy what were advertised as "organic" products. It wasn't until what I refer to as my "lightbulb" moment, reading Dr Dingle's book "Dangerous Beauty", that I started to gain much needed ingredient knowledge. I sat on my bathroom floor and emptied the cupboards investigating every product it contained - at the end I was left with one product, the rest were all rejected based on Dr Dingle's assessment of toxic ingredients. Products which claimed to be organic or natural or even dermatologist tested contained toxic ingredients and known carcinogens!

This was powerful for me and the motivation I needed to start creating my own product range from scratch even though I still had to learn how, I just knew I had to take responsibility for what I was using on my skin to improve my health. I began by learning to make soap and bath salts and then over time gained the knowledge to make creams and lotions.

While my skin condition cleared unfortunately the vision in my right eye grew dimmer and dimmer. It took years for a diagnosis which I finally received after the birth of my second child - a tumour growing on my optic nerve sheath. An inoperable condition with no treatment.

Unwilling to just do nothing I took the matter into my own hands and commenced a vitamin B17 nutritional therapy (against the advice of my doctors) combined with a complete organic lifestyle. Much to their surprise my tumour began to shrink and the vision returned. I am now pain free.

As someone who has been faced with such challenges I appreciate that lifestyle and what you put in and on your body is of the utmost importance to wellbeing and it was these experiences that birthed the Pure and Green brand.

What I wanted to achieve was a real certified organic range, and this involved learning about certification and having to navigate through the myriad of choices on offer and make the best decision for myself and potential customers.

After examining all the options I decided to approach Australian Certified Organic (ACO) as I believe their standard to be the highest on offer. 95% of ingredients by mass are required to be certified organic, other certifiers will accept as little as 15%. Synthetic vitamins like pro-vitamin B5 are prohibited, other certifiers will allow them. Ingredients that contain or were extracted by toxic solvents are prohibited, other certifiers do not check extraction; a loophole that allows toxins in products that still get labelled "certified organic".

The foundation of our company is summed up in these three words:

• pure - not synthetic
• green - made from plants, and
• organic - grown sustainably without synthetic chemicals

Truly organically grown ingredients are minimally processed to create skincare ingredients, which then makes them more difficult to put together in truly effective product.

I spoke to many industry professionals along this journey and when I expressed my desires I was always told 'it can't be done"! Through my perseverance and dedication to purity and eco-sustainability Pure & Green Organics has accomplished this difficult feat and achieved what no other company has to date - organic certification across all products in the range (skin, hair, teeth and bodycare) to the highest current standard of a minimum 95% of certified organic ingredients per product. That alone makes me smile every time I call it to mind. Anything is possible if you try hard enough.

Our entire product range is certified organic, vegan, palm oil free, rich in locally sourced botanical ingredients and presented in plant based/compostable packaging.

Our products launched on the Australian market in August 2009 and we now have over 80 stockists across Australia with export opportunities waiting around the corner. It is wonderful knowing that I have followed the ethical, green path and can make a difference to the world while earning a living at the same time.