Aica grew up in the Philippines. She suffered from acne as a teenager and young adult (she still sometimes gets breakouts). She was into beauty and skincare from a young age, having even competed in local beauty contests in her home city. She studied nursing in university where she learned how to develop systematic processes and medical grade sanitation. However, instead of becoming a nurse she followed her passion for cooking and became a pastry chef, which taught her chemistry in action, and how to choose and combine high quality ingredients. She developed our proprietary maple mud extraction process.