When Cameroon-Canadian mom Aminatou Ali Taiga’s first baby developed skin issues, the Quebecer turned to moringa, a plant she grew up with in Cameroon. Now it’s the heart of her Canadian wellness brand, Djebess.
Growing up, Ali Taiga was one of 20 siblings. She is now a mom of four and a skincare founder. She says, “that’s where I realized that, okay, so maybe that’s not the normal, but going up, I never thought about it like unusual things.”
“We had the moringa tree at home. So we use moringa tree, the leaf, you know, for cooking,” she says. “We use all to the moringa oil that’s come from moringa seeds, you know, to make oils and hydrate our skin. I grew up with moringa. When I started doing product for myself, it was a way for me to reconnect with myself, to take care of me because it’s something that I realized that I wasn’t doing that much becoming a mother.
Aminatou Ali Taiga with her siblings (Submitted by: Aminatou Ali Taiga)
“So it’s something that I started first doing for myself and then sharing with my family and friends. I did not just want to go and buy product. I was curious. I wanted to learn how the product was made and that brought me back to moringa, to the ingredient that I knew from going up. And that’s how all the formulating started. I went to classes to course and learn how to formulate my own product for my child first and then for me later.”
Growing up with nineteen siblings teaches you a thing or two. “It teaches you a lot about resilience, about sharing, about community. So growing up, I never thought about it because for me it was just normal. And I grew up in a community. Beside my siblings, we always have many people at home. So that’s teach you really how to also fight for yourself. It’s funny, but it’s really teach you about family and about sharing and caring.”
Her business grew out of a desire for self-care and she named it after her aunt. The mom of four says, “I believe that you need to take care of yourself from inside and outside. That’s why at DJABESS, we have the skin care product to hydrate your skin. It’s really about nourishing your skin with ingredients that are good for your skin. And then we also have the supplement that brought you all the vitamins and the minerals that you need from inside.”
The entrepreneur is looking forward, “For me, DJABESS is more than a business. It also serves as a legacy that I want to leave to my children. The same way I was looking at my father, I know that my children are looking at me. So I want them to see me. They saw me start. They see me fail sometimes. I want to give them this legacy that where you start, it does not define your possibility or where you will end up. I want my children to have to know that they can also try to build something on their own.
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