Hello! Can we just take a second to say how GLAD we are that you are here? WELCOME!
Ampersand Essentials was first founded in 2020 by our owner Michelle (pictured in the center). It's honestly a pretty wild story, but we love to share about it!
Michelle lost her job in COVID when she was 30 weeks pregnant. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she really felt like the Lord was calling her to do something different with her life. It was a terrifying move, but she knew she needed to pray about it!
At the time, Michelle had been in the essential oil industry for about 3 years. She wanted to do something with her love for the field, but she didn't want to be in an MLM company. She had tried that, but it simply wasn't working for her.
She then learned about Aromatherapy as a career and decided to go back to school to get her degree. She now has a certification in French Aromatherapy and is internationally recognized and certified!
Michelle started Ampersand with the original intent of creating a reliable and reputable resource for learning how to use essential oils safely. She was seeing way too much misinformation and dangerous uses, so she wanted to change that! However, it wasn't until later in 2020 that she was asked to create holiday themed products for friends and family for Christmas. She launched a mini collection, and things really took off from there!
Fast forward to 2022, and Michelle was starting to feel really burned out. She had four employees under her and she was constantly trying to keep up with trends and customer demands. It wasn't until Aleksandra from Essentia Bulgaria reached out to her to supply her lavender essential oil that she began to think about things differently. Aleksandra encouraged her to rebrand as an essential oil company, and the rest is history!
We pride ourselves in being different because instead of hiding who our partner farmers are, or going through a distributor for our oils, we decided to build relationships with the owners of our partner farmers and get our oils DIRECTLY from them. Our process can easily be summarized in the graphic below:
We are PROUD to share our partner farmers, how they farm sustainably, their GC/MS reports, and how to connect with them on social media. While many other essential oil companies out there don't share their partner farmers because they believe they are "trade secrets", we strongly disagree! Our partner farmers are our life blood and keep us going, and we want to show them off!
All of our farmers also own their own distilleries, and all of our oils are (in combination) ECOCERT certified, Fair Trade, and USDA Organic. Our oils come from their native habitats because we believe (and it's been proven in clinical studies!) that when you harvest plant matter from its native habitat, they actually create MORE PURE ESSENTIAL OILS! Isn't that the coolest?
We want you to know exactly where you get all your oils and products from. If we know, why shouldn't you?
So, without further ado... LET'S MEET OUR PARTNER FARMERS.