Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Demetriades.
Hi Anna, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
ANTHEA really began as a way for me to connect more deeply with nature and the native botanicals I grew up foraging in the mountains surrounding my childhood home of McCall, Idaho.
I was raised by lovers of the land—my parents did fieldwork for the Forest Service so as a family we were out hiking and exploring whenever possible. I learned early on how to identify different plant species and how to wild forage edible plants and mushrooms. It was a wonderful way to grow up, and I always knew I wanted to apply that knowledge in some way to my life’s work.
My mother was the one who cut the path for ANTHEA—she started making salves and balms using wild foraged herbs while I was in college. I was taking a graphic design course at the time and helped create her labels and marketing pieces, eventually getting more involved in the process of harvesting and distilling wild botanicals, and helping manufacture products as her business gained popularity at the local farmer’s market. But my mother’s first love is her artwork, so eventually, she offered to gift me her distiller and raw materials so I could create my own skincare business.
I think she saw my passion and potential for formulating unique products before I was fully aware of it myself. Once the creative process was entirely in my hands, it was like everything clicked into place. I began wild harvesting with new formulas in mind, allowing the plants themselves to inspire and inform the products they would become. That’s what I mean by my tagline, “botanical alchemy.” It’s being inspired by nature, selecting a plant that calls to be transformed, and creating something special from that botanical. It’s a process that never stops feeling like magic.
The name, ANTHEA, means “bloom” in Greek. It’s a nod to my heritage on my father’s side—my grandfather grew up in Athens. It also happens to be a combination of my and my mother’s names—Anna and Thea—though I hadn’t realized it when I chose the name! A friend of mine pointed it out to me months after I founded my company. I was simply looking for a Greek word that related in some way to flowers; it’s beautifully serendipitous that the name resonates with my life on multiple levels. I feel like when these things happen, it’s an indicator that you’re following your life’s path. I’ve been creating products for almost a decade now, and I still feel inspired by the process nearly every day.
For me, ANTHEA is more than just skincare. It’s a lifelong passion, and my way of honoring the natural world and all the wonder it holds. It’s a deep-rooted purpose. It’s a never-ending pursuit of honoring the natural world and all the wonder it holds through botanical alchemy.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not! I would compare the experience of creating ANTHEA to driving a winding, mountain road—the way forward can’t readily be seen, it’s full of unexpected twists and turns (and the occasional pothole), but the journey is absolutely beautiful. Sometimes it’s a total blast and other times it’s terrifying, but all-in-all it is far more interesting and engaging than the straight-path freeway drive that most 9-5 jobs have felt like to me.
Up until November of last year, I had been running my business while also holding down a full-time job at an environmental law firm called Advocates for the West (look them up—they do incredible work for our environment!). I had been “driving” both roads for almost 9 years, and finally decided to fully commit to the scenic route when a job offer I had accepted in Greece fell through (that’s another story). Choosing to commit fully to my business rather than search for another job was one of the most anxiety-inducing and rewarding decisions I have ever made.
As a one-woman operation, I struggle sometimes to be all things to every part of my company. From the actual harvest of botanicals and creation of the products to building the website, labels, and marketing materials, and the operational nuts and bolts like bookkeeping and invoicing—I do it all. It can be exhausting, but the rewards are huge. I love nothing more than to go on a harvesting hike with my dog Lucy and dream of the products I’ll make with the plants we bring home.
I’ve started taking volunteers out on harvest hikes too, and the sense of community those forages bring to the creative process is beautiful. I also recently began working with a dear friend who has taken over the design aspects of the business, and her brilliantly talented brain has been a total game-changer for me. I love working with her and having a teammate to bounce ideas off.
Working alone has its benefits in that everything is under your control, but it can start to feel like an echo chamber when you’re trying to come up with creative new ideas. I hope that as the business grows, my team will continue to grow too!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think what truly sets my work apart from other boutique organic skincare companies is my commitment to ethically and sustainably wild foraging many of my featured botanicals. Other than the Balance Serum, which features calendula flowers I grow in my garden and which are not native to Idaho, every ANTHEA product is inspired by and contains a botanical that is native to Idaho.
The very first product I ever made, Sage Simple Cream, features essential oil and hydrosol (plant water) from wild sagebrush I harvest and distill myself. To the best of my knowledge, mine is the only company using sagebrush in a skincare product. The aroma, which is both uplifting and grounding, reminds me of walking in the high desert foothills surrounding my Boise, Idaho home just after a rainstorm. Sagebrush contains a small amount of camphor, so when used topically it is soothing and cooling, and helps the skin regulate oil production.
Sagebrush is endemic to the American West, meaning it can’t be found anywhere else on earth. It is a humble and beautiful plant, and I feel honored to work with it. To me, it is the ultimate symbol of our ruggedly beautiful western landscape.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
It may surprise people to learn that I am a self-taught formulator. I often get asked if I have a degree in chemistry, but I majored in creative writing in college—about as far from the scientific end of the education spectrum as one can get. Creating complex skincare formulations is something I learned to do through years of research and trial-and-error.
Before honing my craft, I made plenty of botched batches of lotion that never saw the light of day (or touched the surface of the skin)! I have a binder that contains every formula I ever created. It’s so gratifying to look back at them now and see how far I’ve come as a formulator, and how sophisticated ANTHEA products have become as I’ve continued to grow my knowledge.
Pricing:
- Sage and Rose Simple Creams $19-$38
- Balance Serum $59
- Elderberry Elixir $67
- Rosehip Bright Mask $71
- Balsam Balm $8
Contact Info:
- Website: www.anthea.com
- Instagram: @anthea.skincare
- Facebook: @anthea.skincare
