Claire knows first-hand what people are looking for to make them feel beautiful and have soft, glowing skin. She owned and ran her own salon for 15 years in Australia. Then deciding she wanted a change, she sold her spa in 1996 and took to the high seas managing spas on the Steiner Transocean cruise line on ships that were positioned in the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

“I shocked many whom I am sure thought, 'Silly ole kook. What is she doing traveling at 50 and alone?’ Well, I am here to say: Go for it!” says Claire. After four years on the high seas, Claire returned home feeling the tug of wanting to do the “nana thing” with her grandchildren and perhaps responding to her son who told her “kids leave home, not the mothers.” Seriously, she really did miss her family, but she loved the experience of working on the giant cruisers. She says she had an amazing time visiting many exciting countries and meeting people and learning beauty treatments from all over the world.

So what did she do when she returned home? She bought and ran a day spa in Brisbane to be near her son. After two years there she met her new partner David Black, who happens to be a chemist. Since David lived in Sydney, she sold her spa and moved back to Sydney, a short hour flight from her “little people.” Not wanting to go back to salon hours and the weekend work, Claire joined with David and they opted to blend their skills and start their own business using native Australian botanicals and herbs.

Using the proceeds from the spa sale as start up capital, they began developing products and named their company Maraju, which means kangaroo in one of the aboriginal dialects,” Claire says. “My daughter was working in a spa in New York as a beauty therapist, so I asked her to survey her clients and see what they related Australia to. 95 percent said kangaroo, hence the logo. Claire says that since her products are based on native Australian botanicals, herbs, clay, sea and earth used for healing and medicines for centuries by the indigenous people, it seemed appropriate to her to give her company an indigenous name. "After working on ships as well as in London and Vail, Colo., it became obvious that the popularity of native/natural products and treatments far outweighed the traditional beauty treatments,” said Claire. “Knowing we have so many unique native plants in Australia with such wonderful therapeutic properties helped us decide to pursue this vision,” Claire says.

According to Claire, Australia has one of the world’s most diverse range of essential oil bearing plants that have been used for literally thousands of years by Australian aborigines. “She says tea tree and eucalyptus oil are well known oils, but others she uses that are native to Australia include Rosalina, nerolina and kunzea. Claire says they only use pure native Australian oils, botanicals, herbs, clays and salts in their products. “The oils are all pure and have wonderful therapeutic properties and we use no artificial colorings of fragrances,” she says. Claire loves to walk along the harbor every day she can and finds it a time to relax from stresses. She has special products for stress relief that include: “Rancoo” (calming) tonic smelling salts; “Allawah” (resting) massage oil to add to bath or pulse points on your body and “Jenymungup” an energizing pure essential oil. Just imagine a bath that’s a mini-vacation in your own tub! Claire recommends her seaweed bath therapy for alleviating fatigue.

She also has a clay bath therapy that is combined with sea salt that’s rich in minerals. And for a real vacation, there’s a travel kit called “cundiah” that includes eye gel, lip balm, foot reviver and jet lag smelling salts. “We’re very proud of all our products because they are so unique,” says Claire. She adds that her best selling products for retail are the body, healing, hand/nail and foot balms; and her wholesale business for spas includes the scrubs, the body masks, native flower soak and the bath salts. “We manufacture from scratch the exfoliates, mists, smelling and bath salts, treatment oils, blends and wellness packs and we work with a fulfillment company that pours our balms, lotions, mists and masks,” she says.

Claire says finding the right direction has been the toughest part of opening Maraju. “First we aimed for tourist trade with a limited range, but retailers were too busy to be trained. Hence our product suffered as a result.” “They didn’t seem to care that our products were therapeutic. It seemed that a gimmick was what they were after, like a pin up girl on the tin,” she adds. “As spas are what I have been involved with, I reassessed by asking myself what I would want in my spa, what would be different about my offerings, and what would be most beneficial to my clients,” Claire said. “We’re very excited that we were accepted for the Austrade Export New Development Scheme and the interest there has been from spas for the products and the spa menu that we have put together for providing services,” she said. Her future plans for the business include training therapists how to implement the treatments she sells them to give that particular spa an edge that would offer a unique point of difference -- experiencing the energies and vibrations of the Australian Earth.

“We are currently having a new web site built to enable people to shop on line for retail products, aromatherapy and wellness packs, as well as information for spas for both wholesale and retail,” she said. Currently, people can contact Claire and David by clicking on the info@australiannativetherapies.com.au. She hopes it will not be long before the shopping page is ready. She’s doing finishing touches now with the photographer. Claire describes her business as “small, not micro” but she is projecting with the website changes and working with therapists that business will double in the next 12 months. Her business style is to not ever see failure, instead if something does not work, change and adjust it always looking forward and she recommends that for all HBN members and others in the handmade beauty business.

Claire recommends belonging to HBN because it helps keep her keep in touch with “what is happening outside of Oz. “It’s interesting to learn about the other variety of businesses and what they’re offering,” says Claire. “I encourage everyone to join HBN and I’m very glad I came across the site and joined. I like knowing there’s a support system out there worldwide for advice."

You can enjoy Claire's products and experience a bit of outback beauty for yourself at Australian Native Therapies.