About Us

We are an Australian clean beauty social enterprise that offers premium organic personal care products with zero nasties. All our products are hand made in Australia from sustainable botanical ingredients without any harsh chemicals and is not tested on animals. While our formulations & ingredients are of premium quality, we keep our packaging simple and no-frills.

Our beauty philosophy is simple- its about nourishing your skin with uncomplicated, natural and effective plant-based superfoods. 

We pledge 100% of our profits to not-for-profit organizations in Australia that assist Women and Children escaping domestic violence and to help underprivileged families. 

Find out the meaning of the INKA logo here.

 

OUR MISSIONS

1. We aim at providing you the best Australian-made premium organic personal care products that are not only natural, sustainable, cruelty-free, eco-friendly, paraben & sulfate free and most importantly affordable to all.

2. By pledging 100% of our profits to our selected not-for-profit beneficiaries, we aim to assist these organizations that help underprivileged families and Women & Children to escape violence safely.

3. To ensure underprivileged families/ abuse survivors are able to live a safe and sustainable life post-trauma, we create job opportunities for them at Inka Skincare Apothecary to make a living while learning new skills.  

 See Our Impact here.

 

OUR FOUNDER - KAY’S STORY

Hello! My name is Kay. I am a mother, a holistic health practitioner, a multi award-winning entrepreneur, a survivor of domestic violence, a mental health advocate. I suffer from clinical depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from years and years of abuse. I was someone who suffered in silence in fear of shame and judgement and always had a poker face on in public throughout most of my existence until I had my daughter and realized that I could no longer put up with it. The years of accumulated stress and abuse has also caused me cancer which I have battled with the last few years.

Fast forward today, I have a calling to put all my life’s experiences (both the good and the bad) into a brand that not only empowers women to be beautiful but to also uplift women and children who are going through hardship in life be it due to domestic or family violence. This cause is something close to my heart as I too was once in that unfortunate position that tore my daughter and I apart. I understand the complexity of domestic & family abuse, I understand how hard it is to leave especially when a child is involved, I understand the negative judgement and societal views, and most of all- I understand the pain and damage it does to a person in the long run. I am no longer ashamed to admit that till this day, I am still on my long journey to recovery. There are still some days that I fall, yet there are also some days I pick myself up wanting to be stronger than ever. What I want most out of creating this brand is to turn my years of pain into something beautiful – to give courage and help other women and children.

Why a beauty brand you may ask? Well, I have always been very vain since I was young. Always the first in my group of friends to use (and hoard!) skincare and makeup. As a result of that, I took up an extra diploma course to learn Make Up Artistry and then furthered that study into a Holistic Health course as my fussy sensitive skin wouldn’t take just any makeup or skincare. That was when I first started making my own products. Even at 40 years of age today, the vain side of me still exist and I have definitely passed down the sensitive skin gene to my daughter who suffers from chronic Eczema since birth (story for another time on how bad it would get as this is getting too long). So, it's been close to a decade since I have been making all her personal care products and have been tailoring made-to-order products for close friends and private clients.

So that is how Inka came about. Every product we have in our apothecary is trial and tested by either myself, my daughter or friends for the last few years. If I had the space here, I would even tell you how each product came about! But I shall stop here and continue the stories on Inka’s socials on Facebook @inkaskincare.au and Instagram @inkaskincare.

 

TESTIMONIALS - What others say about Kay?

" Kay and I met in a pretty unconventional way during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and stage 3 lockdown in Melbourne last year. As I am a senior citizen with disabilities and living alone, it was really hard on me to go through the lockdown without any support whatsoever. I went through a nervous breakdown and Kay was kind enough to knock on my door to offer her support and companionship, since then we have become good friends and she even took me out for a celebratory birthday dinner as she knew I was on the lonesome for my 60th birthday. Kay is a kind, compassionate, empathetic and friendly person. We are blessed to have her in our neighborhood as she has done many things to inspire community spirit within our block. She even started up and upcycled 2 broken-down wine fridges as a Free Street Library on her front yard which was a hit within our community with the kids and adults. I wish all the best things for Kay and I look forward to seeing her new project succeed!"

- Sara Lodge, Resident of City of Whitehorse, Victoria, Australia.  

 

"In 2013 when I started the now defunct 'People of Hope' project, Kay was part of our initial volunteer and advocate team. Our project was focused on raising awareness on homelessness and also assisting the homeless on food, healthcare and other necessities. Since then, I have always known Kay to be extremely active in contributing to the humanitarian scene and helping others where possible. I see Kay as someone who is friendly, outspoken, supportive, compassionate, kind and generous. I am happy to hear of her new social enterprise- Inka and foresee that it will be a huge success knowing her abilities as an award-winning Entrepreneur Philanthropist."

- Saren Raj Rajendran - Founder of People of Hope Project/ Resident of Melbourne, Australia.

 

" I met Kay in 2013 when she was a contributor and volunteer for Reach Out distributing food and necessities to the homeless. Fast forward 2014 when I started my own non-profit organization, Kay followed on and collaborated by contributing repurposed clothing on a monthly basis to the homeless via her successful apparel business. She also supported other projects such as sponsoring wheelchairs to the Ronald McDonald House, visiting and spreading cheer to the terminally-ill children at the Hospitals and also contributed to other regional outreach programs for underprivileged families.

I have always known Kay to be humble, caring, generous, compassionate and empathetic to a fault! I am certain that she will continue to do more good with Inka and we at Happy Caring Hearts Crew would like to wish her all the best in her endeavors! "

- Jennifer Chua, Founder of Happy Caring Hearts Crew