About Us and Our Founder
Bella Vida. Beautiful Life.
Bella Vida Santa Barbara is a Sustainable Luxury Skincare company inspired by the ocean and beauty that surrounds us in California. We are sustainable, natural and Leaping Bunny and Cruelty-Free Kitty Certified Cruelty-Free. It’s our passion to help everyone feel beautiful and love themselves. Beautiful skin is just the beginning of that.
Bella Vida Santa Barbara was founded in 2019 in Santa Barbara by Erin Schmidt, who suffered for many years from cystic acne and, as a natural redhead, also has very sensitive skin. After becoming a mom to a girl with Autism, Erin wanted to have cleaner products throughout her home. She realized she needed to make a big change after the years of many doctors and treatments that she felt harmed her skin, body, and the Earth. She channelled her passion for the environment, animals and helping others by creating a sustainable, natural and luxurious skincare line that was effective while upholding the highest standards of ethics, quality and sustainability.
At Bella Vida SB, we care deeply about our company’s impact on our customers, animals, and the environment, especially the ocean. We are passionate about being a botanical-based, natural, cruelty-free and sustainable brand.
Most of our formulas are vegan, natural and many are certified clean by Think Dirty. Our company also advocates for zero-waste, offering refills, and is striving to be as close to plastic-free as possible. We believe beauty brands must do better in helping to protect our oceans from plastics.
Most of all- we want to be a company you love and are proud to support!
So, thank you for being here!
Follow us on social media @bellavidasb
Please send us before and after pictures of your amazing results, as we love seeing those and they really help others! Thank you, bella!
Blessings,
Erin Schmidt, Founder & CEO
* Certified Woman Owned Small Business
Certified Disability Owned
About our Founder:
From Erin Schmidt
"Nothing about starting or keeping Bella Vida SB going for four years, has been easy. My father died tragically while I was in the middle of getting ready to launch this company. Because of this, I chose to use "Bella Vida/ Beautiful Life" in the name of my company to remind myself, and others, of how precious this life truly is. I officially launched Bella Vida Santa Barbara exactly two months after my father's death on his birthday, April 4, in 2019.
As a Mom of a daughter with Moderate Autism Spectrum Disorder, I have had to juggle growing the company mostly on my own for the past 4 years, while parenting a child with significant special needs, working full time as an educator, and also finding out I was "legally blind" for 2 years until September, 2022 when I had cataracts removed. But through all of these struggles, my determination to make the company thrive comes from my passion to help others and knowing the seed money came from a small amount of money my dad left me. I know he and my mother are rooting me on in heaven to keep being positive and know that if I keep going and don't quit, I will succeed.
In creating our formulas, I have consulted with a lot of licensed Estheticians, top rated, clean beauty labs and organic formulators and done countless hours of my own research on natural and organic formulations. But the main criteria is that I must truly love the product and what it does for my skin and my customer's skin. And I hope you feel the same!
I truly care about my customers and our impact on the planet while we do business. I have built my business not just on sustainable practices and clean formulas; but also in going out of our way to serve our customers through creating beautiful products that bring joy to their lives, making sure they are very happy with our customer service and fall in love with our products and us as a company.
Thanks for reading. I wish you joy, love and so many blessings.
To your glowing self, inside and out!
Cheers, Erin Schmidt, Founder"
Member of the Female Founder Collective, 2020 to present
Featured in Foundr Magazine in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
Featured in interviews in: LA Fashion Magazine, Dieline Magazine, Think Dirty's Female Founders to Watch for Women's Day in 2020
