Celebrating Heritage

Rosalina Tan (RST)

Rosalina Tan has always been a prime mover in the organic farming industry. In her Bicol sojourn, she had a chance encounter with a farmer who sold her a bottle of Pili Oil.

Spurred by the oils’ benefits and the impact it had on supporting the livelihood of farmers, Tan began to buy more bottles from the farmers and study more about the two kinds of oil that could be extracted from the Pili Tree—the Pili Oil from the pulp of the fruit and Elemi resin from the bark.

The launch of her and her daughter’s beauty and wellness brand Pili Ani wasn’t the conclusion to all her hard work. In fact, it was only a means to fulfill their lifelong mission: Advocating an organic and sustainable agricultural practice that will empower local farmers. This started the Pili Ani story.

Mary Jane Tan-Ong (MJO)

As early as she was 7 years old, Mary Jane Tan-Ong has been tagging along with her mom to business meetings. The family’s business specialty is trading–in fact Tan-Ong is known to handle several businesses at once and was awarded as an Outstanding Entrepreneur in the Philippines.

Tan-Ong noticed her mother Rosalina accumulating bottles of Pili Oil in their warehouse. It was Tan-Ong who urged her mother to start Pili Ani in order to help more farmers have a dignified way to earn a living through the harvest of Pili Pulp Oil and Elemi resin.

1. Tell us about yourselves. When did you first know you were interested in the skincare & beauty industry?

RST: I am 76 years old and I am still lively and outgoing, I love to learn and socialize and meet people and most of all I love to create new opportunities for the marginalized farmer group here in our country by creating a livelihood that is sustainable. I wasn’t really interested in the business part, all I wanted was to help the farmers and create a small livelihood for the Pili Tree growers, then my daughter stepped in to bring this to a better and more professional level.

MJO: I am the daughter of the founder. I am passionate about bringing my mom’s vision and mission to life. I share the same goals and sentiments with my mom and really want to help create a sustainable livelihood for our local farmers while creating a skincare brand that is versatile, natural, and friendly to not only our health and skin but to the environment as well. When I found out about my warehouse full of Pili Oils and it was eating up more space than my other business, I had to act.

2. How do you / your team generate new ideas?

RST: I am more on stakeholder relations and the production side, I am always in the search for new technology in terms of preserving the shelf life of the Pili Fruit, the proper way of harvesting and planting the trees, and providing the local farmers with updated information. I find a thrill in government relations—this allows me to help protect the Pili industry and also our partner farmers.

MJO: Every time I travel, I shop and see what is happening in the market and I search online a lot. Of course now that I have a bigger team, they tell me what are the latest ingredients and trends in beauty. After screening the potential new products/ideas we brainstorm with our production team.

We make sure that our prototypes coincide with our beauty philosophy–formulated with natural ingredients and compatible with our proprietary blend of Pili and Elemi oils. Our promise to our customers is to ensure that each product udergoes market, laboratory, and clinical testing. It is truly a tedious process but we are proud of our growing beauty and wellness range that are safe and effective for most skin types. These are manufactured in the Philippines and shared with the world.

3. Do you have any specific rituals for resetting creativity?

RST: You will be amazed at how creative and resourceful the Filipino farmers are. I actually learn from them specially in terms of making do with what they have; one classic example is they practice harvesting on a full moon.

MJO: I like researching online for new ideas. I always want to include Filipino elements—whether it be an ingredient or a packaging material—as it becomes a big differentiation between what we have and what’s available in the market. Not many have visited the Philippines—and we have so much to share.

Apart from getting energized from new ideas, I enjoy playing and grooming my 12 cats—they stay with me in the office. Being around them helps me relax and clear my mind.

4. How do you identify trends? What resources do you use to spot trends and consumer insights within your industry?

MJO: I always look at global skincare and cosmetics trends. We also keep an eye out for new ingredients that’s potentially compatible with our proprietary blend. It’s also important for us to listen to the pulse of the market—and we get intelligence from our ears on the ground–from product reviews, social media, to industry partners. We take a peek at online marketplaces and spot what discerning beauty consumers are buying. We also look at other natural beauty innovators from around the world.

5. What is the biggest challenge you face when innovating within your field?

MJO: Being a minority-owned brand in a first world country and trying to introduce a treasured indigenous skincare ingredient is by far the biggest challenge in this field. It’s been a challenge to run with giants—especially with heavily funded skincare brands.

6. Has there ever been an instance where another industry has influenced your work?

MJO: The biggest inspiration for us getting into the industry is our founder’s passion to help create a livelihood for our Pili farmers. After realizing that our Pili Oils are comparable to the other famous oils, I looked into other comparable industries and realized that we have a much better ingredient than what is currently available. Imagine having two amazing oils with different properties—Pili (for moisturizing and antioxidants) and Elemi (naturally firming) that comes from one tree.

7. What makes an innovative work culture? How do you create a culture of innovation?

MJO: An innovative culture is born by the top management modeling the company norms. We keep an open mind and hold a safe space for our team to talk about new products and new ways of working. We freely discuss new ideas and accept suggestions. In our company, no idea is too weird, everything is considered and discussed.

8. Looking to the future, how will your brand continue to be a leader in innovation?

MJO: We will keep finding ways to incorporate our exclusive blend into our growing range of products–there’s so much potential in these two oils. We rely not only on what the customers want, but also on the developments in beauty. Recently we have released Pili Butter–and we made a vegan lip butter that moisturizes lips. We’re looking forward to sharing what else we can do with this new raw material derived from Pili Oil.