Yatta Brands

Yatta Brands owner Mairi Shewfelt with staff members Joceline Paquette, Tricia Poirier and Emilie Boucher (l-r).

Beneficial beauty products

YATTA BRANDS OFFERS NON-TOXIC OPTIONS

By Ellen Ashton-Haiste

Beauty products can be toxic, a fact that Mairi Shewfelt learned at one of the darkest times in her life. But this epiphany led her to create Yatta Brands, which offers safe vegan, eco-friendly options for hair, skin and body care.

A life-threatening struggle with ampullary cancer prompted the young mother to research the disease. She discovered the cause can be toxins found in many beauty and skin care products usually used on a daily basis. She was no exception.

Not wanting others to go through what she did when there are alternative options available, she switched her career focus, previously in the financial sector, to providing non-toxic vegan products.

“That is the birth of Yatta,” she says. “It came from a very dark spot in my life, but has transformed into something absolutely amazing.”

Launched in 2019 at the beginning of the pandemic as a primarily online retailer, Yatta Brands now operates a store, studio and event venue on Adelaide Street North. It offers a variety of makeup, skin care and hair care products, as well as clothing and jewellery. Shewfelt sources all offerings locally after she’s researched them to ensure that all ingredients are toxin- and cruelty free, as well as sustainable. As examples, the clothing uses vegetable dyes, while jars and lids are made with recycled materials. Even the jewellery boxes are biodegradable.

Having a physical studio allows Shewfelt to assist customers with choices by letting them see how their bodies and the Earth itself benefit from those practices.

“My focus is what Yatta can do for other people,” she says. “Through my experience, I aim to offer everyone who comes through this door an opportunity to experience something they won’t get elsewhere, the opportunity to be involved in something that is changing the world to a better place.”

She has found that knowledge is what her clientele is seeking. Customers range in age from 20 to 70, “all wanting to look good but not harm themselves or the environment. We educate them about what a healthy diet looks like and what not to put on their skin.” 