Susanne Norwitz and the coral oil in a solar lab

Morning light off Shem Creek hits the beakers first. That is where Susanne Norwitz still works.

In December 2014 Susanne Norwitz traded speechwriting for formulating and founded Maya Chia in Charleston, South Carolina. For years she had drafted language for politicians and Fortune 100 executives by day and mixed creams for herself at night. She kept noticing confident labels and thin performance, and she wanted claims that matched what was inside the bottle.

Chia came before the company. While following a detox that added chia seeds to meals, she turned the package over and studied what the seed contained. The profile looked like food for skin that looked tired and underfed. The name honors her father, a surgeon who repaired cleft lips for Maya families in Guatemala, and her own role as stepmother to two sons born there. The Maya had valued chia for thousands of years. Personal history made the ingredient choice feel like a responsibility.

That careful beginning still shows. Norwitz has made each formula herself for more than eleven years, guided by peer reviewed papers and in vivo testing, self funded for more than twelve years, with a small team near Shem Creek. The practice is plainspoken. List each ingredient, check each promise, and keep results ahead of margin. Botanicals point the way, and measurement makes the call.

You read chia panels the way other people read novels, and a detox put the seed on your plate. With that packet in your hand, what about chia looked like skincare to you?

A detox had me eating chia seeds every day, and because I always read labels, I studied the nutrition facts. I found omega fatty acids, antioxidants, minerals, complete protein. All of it pointed toward skin that looks better nourished.

What drew me was how strong yet light the oil felt. Chia seed oil has little weight, it absorbs, it helps hold barrier moisture without a greasy after feel. It read as a foundation to formulate around, not a passing fad. I wanted to make the finest products for our customers, and that required a base that could carry other actives and stand up to everyday wear.

The plant gave us the name too. My father had worked in Guatemala fixing cleft lips for Maya families. I later became a stepmother to two sons born in that area. Learning that chia had been honored by the Maya for thousands of years grounded everything. It was not borrowed culture. It was family, and it set a bar for how the formula had to perform.

Your bench overlooks tidal water in Charleston, and your process leans on published research plus in vivo testing. What does a formulating day look like once you move from paper to beaker?

Paper comes before the bench. I study papers on an ingredient, its stability, its working level, its behavior in oil and in water. Then I hunt sources. Chia anchors us, but I seek out trusted botanicals and, where needed, thoughtfully screened synthetics that aid stability or even tone. I track growers, harvest dates, and how each oil was extracted.

Maya Chia has always paired high performance botanicals with thoughtfully screened synthetics. I prefer honesty over dogma. If a synthetic keeps a product safe and steady at a small dose, I will list it and say why. People who study labels deserve that openness.

Then comes blending and wear testing. Feel, aroma, how fast it sinks, then again tomorrow. I live in each trial for days, watch it in damp air, watch it under foundation. Every promise gets tested. Every ingredient gets named. We will not trade results to protect margin. That honesty is a slower way to run a business, but it is the only way I trust for face and scalp.

The Super Couple mixes supercritical chia oil with astaxanthin and glows coral in the bottle. It turned into a Beauty Heroes Hero product in 2021. What made that pairing feel so right at touch

The Super Couple stays our original hero Supercritical chia oil gives light moisture and a settled feel that works for skin that looks reactive. Astaxanthin gives antioxidant support and a coral tint. Combined they form a multi correctional face oil that cares for the look of dryness, dullness and loss of firmness without heaviness.

I designed it as a daily oil serum, not an add on. Smooth it on after cleansing or after a water based serum, press into warm skin, morning and evening. Take a few drops, inhale, press again where skin feels tight. The shade signals content. It is not dye. It is the carotenoid itself, held in oil so it glides out evenly.

We want to make the finest products for our customers, and this oil fixed our benchmark. It needed to sink, to layer, and to show change with regular use across weeks. Selection by Beauty Heroes in 2021 showed that a plain concept, handled carefully and tested well, could stand with the rest.

I read peer reviewed papers, sourced oils, kept notebooks, and felt how stability and scent shifted over weeks.

Susanne Norwitz

Night after night you mixed jars at home while speechwriting paid the bills, then you launched Maya Chia in December 2014. When did that quiet habit demand to become a brand?

I had spent years finding words for other voices. Speechwriting trains you to hear the gap. In beauty I heard sweeping promises with thin backing. At home I was blending formulas in the evening and getting stronger results than store bought creams, and friends started requesting bottles.

The launch in December 2014 was practical, not theatrical. I knew research. Research. Research. Did I say research. That covers the method. I read peer reviewed studies, ordered oils, filled notebooks, and tracked how texture and aroma changed week by week. Every small batch showed me something no article could.

Charleston let me move at a human pace. Our lab looks toward Shem Creek and runs on solar power Daylight there is truthful. You can judge tint and slip clearly, and you can think without rush. That calm mattered. I would not release before results were ready, and I would not let copy outrun what sat in the jar.

The Super Blend needed 172 tries before it behaved like a pressed moisture concentrate with your longest ingredient list. What failed along the way, and how did try 172 feel different?

It took 172 versions to land the Super Blend formula. When people hear that count they assume I round up. I saved the logs. The puzzle was richness without heaviness. I wanted a pressed serum that acted as a moisture concentrate, full of botanicals, yet easy for daily wear in humid air.

Early batches balled up, or felt sticky, or flattened the glow I was after. A few split within a week. Others seemed fine in glass then rested on top of skin. Every tweak meant resetting oils, humectants and stabilizers, then waiting for the real texture to appear. Bench notes count, and so do notes from wearing it outside.

Batch 172 pressed in clean, kept hydration, and slid under facial oil. It felt cushioned without a film, and dry areas looked smoother by midday. Makeup went on evenly. That told me enough. We released when touch and test results lined up, not when a schedule told us to.

Maya Chia has stayed self funded for more than twelve years, with growth and profit in what you call a functional relationship. How has independence shaped your no list?

Maya Chia has stayed self funded for over twelve years Growth and profitability sit in a functional relationship, and both should be contributing equally. That stance makes no possible, and no keeps formulas intact.

I do not launch before testing ends. I do not replace a potent botanical with a thin substitute to widen margin. I do not sell through fear and endless free from claims. Our customer studies labels. She sees dryness, firmness, uneven tone, thinning hair. She seeks visible change, not chatter, and she notices when a texture has been watered down to hit a cost.

Staying independent also allowed breadth. We now reach about 250 offline doors including Miraval and Four Seasons spas, and we carry an Allure Best of Beauty Award with four straight Readers Choice nominations That record came from patient work, not from scaling in a way that would force compromise in sourcing or checks.

Clean can turn rigid, but you keep botanicals beside synthetics when data backs the mix. Where do you let a plant lead and where do you ask for backup?

A plant leads when it works best. Chia oil brings moisture and glide. Plum oil from a Cosmos approved orchard in France brings softness. Seed oils, fruit extracts and ferments offer slip and scent no lab copy can match. I hold onto them when they stay stable through heat and humidity, and when the farm behind them meets our files.

Backup arrives for preservation, pH balance, shelf life and even tone. Brighter Days Ahead is our shorthand for rested and clear, never reshaped. Evidence stays clinical. The verdict stays visible. That calls for in vivo checks when possible, and direct words about what a product may help with in the look of firmness, hydration and tone.

Do the work is my private reminder. Read, blend, test, repeat. Let AI work with you rather than think for you. Plants merit that care. They are not emblems. They carry harvests, soils and seasons inside them, and the texture should respect where they came from.

Your range now covers scalp and hair with Power Fol Advanced for stress and age related thinning, and a gentle retinol built on botanical retinols. What did facial skincare teach you about scalp?

Scalp is skin. It registers stress, hormonal change and age through the look of thinning, shedding and limp roots. We treated it as we treat a face. Wash softly, back the barrier, feed with botanicals that carry data, and stay patient through seasonal shed. No heavy cover, no stripping wash.

Power Fol Advanced is a ritual for scalp and hair Part hair, massage into scalp, stay consistent. It aims to support the look of thicker, fuller hair with a scalp that feels balanced. Touch matters. Warm palms, finger parts, unhurried massage, then let it absorb. Face science carried over because the needs match. Moisture balance, calm look, steady habit.

The Straight A Treatment offered a parallel takeaway. It combines encapsulated retinol without BHT with two botanical retinols for the look of age spots and adult breakouts. Encapsulation meters release, which may help comfort and support nightly wear. Soft does not equal faint. It equals careful, checked, and made for actual mornings.

Closing note from the desk

We keep picturing hands. A founder massaging trial oil along the jaw, jotting slip and tack in a notebook, waiting out humidity before she judges. More than eleven years of blending, 172 passes on one jar, slow funding instead of fast money. Patience you can touch in the finish.

Maya Chia set out to craft luxury clean skincare with measurable results, grounded in chia and candid about science lending a hand. The order feels tactile. Oil, then concentrate, then focused care, each one listed and tested. Harvest starts the texture, the lab checks it, and daily ritual carries it home.

Product spotlight

The Super Couple, 86 dollars for a multi correctional face oil serum that glides on fingertip to cheek. Supercritical chia oil with astaxanthin forms a coral oil that warms between palms and presses in. Smooth on as the oil serum stage after cleansing, morning and night, for soft barrier moisture and the look of glow.

The Super Blend, 110 dollars for a high performance moisture concentrate with a rich cushioned touch. The richest ingredient deck in the range, shaped across 172 iterations. Press in before oil for the look of plump, deeply moisturized skin with a smooth finish.