In Celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” -William Shakespeare
For Thrive to thrive, it truly takes a village. If you’ve ever been curious about how your favorite superplant products come to life, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the talented people in Costa Rica who make it happen. As many of you know, our vision was born and built in Costa Rica, and half of our founding team is from Costa Rica. What better time than National Hispanic Heritage Month to celebrate our passionate team members.
Our Costa Rican team’s unwavering devotion and passion–from seeds to skincare–have made it possible for Thrive to create products that are now setting the standard for regenerative skincare. Thanks to your support, with the help of local farmers in Costa Rica, we are bringing degraded farmland back to life, building resilient farm communities, and growing supercharged plant-powered, high-performance products that are healthier for you, and for the planet.
Get To Know The Thrive Team
We celebrate the following people in Costa Rica who are at the heart (and root) of Thrive. Each with their own superpower.
Don Juan Solís, Founding Farmer aka the Fierrillo Whisperer
Don Juan is Thrive’s first farmer partner. He uses regenerative farming practices instilled from generations to grow and harvest our superplant Fierrillo, which you’ll recognize as one of the hero ingredients in all our products.
Don Juan has a spiritual connection to the farm and to the plants. One of his farming techniques is to talk to the plants. But he also believes in science and practices techniques that have shown to increase the potency of our plants. For example, he’s figured out how to boost the anti-microbial + anti-fungal potency of Fierrillo.
Don Juan’s love and wisdom are being passed down to another generation. His son Gabriel Solís and grandson Abner work alongside Don Juan and are benefitting from his intuition and resourcefulness. Their livelihood is now sustainable both in terms of the environment and the longevity of the family and the farm.
To read more about talking to plants…
Laura Arce, Founding Director of Product R&D, Thrive Natural Care, aka head of the Science and Magic Department
Laura is immensely proud to bring native Costa Rican plants of her homeland to innovative natural skincare. Her holistic perspective on living healthy and aligned in the world makes her powerfully unique. She is part artist, part chemist, and part innovator. Her product ideas are always based on what’s best for the customer. You experience her vision, passion in every Thrive product that touches your skin. We are lucky to benefit from Laura’s immeasurable talents and obsessive attention to detail. She strives for our products to be great.
Gustavo Rojas, Head of Regenerative Operations, Mission Control Maestro
If Thrive were NASA, Gustavo would be head of our mission control center. He manages all from the point of launch to overseeing and improving our regenerative model to managing the partnerships with our farmers. He is the man on the ground helping Thrive make best-in-class regenerative skincare, involved in every aspect of our business. He ensures that only the best extracts make it to production and monitors the Juanilama plants, our anti-bacterial and anti-fungal powerhouse. Gustavo defines grace under pressure.
Coopecuna Farm
Doña Guiselle Monge, President, Don Julio Valverde, Manager
Doña Guiselle is one of the leaders of Coopercuna, a women-led co-op with more than 25 families. Coopecuna was born in 2011 from the initiative of a group of people from the countryside who came together to collectively solve their work, health, and safety problems for their families, seeking to generate opportunities mainly for women. Since 2015, they’ve helped us perfect our regenerative farming technique.
Don Julio manages the co-op and works tirelessly to solve problems, plan, and always have the co-op’s and Thrive’s best interests at heart.
Pacific Farm
Doña Edith Pérez and Don Jorge Mairena, Regenerative Farming Pioneers
Doña Edith and Don Jorge are regenerative farming pioneers in a region of Costa Rica where this livelihood is uncommon. The Pacific is a very dry region making the land difficult to farm which is why it’s mostly used for animal raising. And much of the area is supported by fishing. But overfishing has brought challenges. They took degraded land and started growing plants. Overtime they became experts and have generously shared their knowledge with Thrive.
They are our newest farming partners and are the primary source of Hamelia Patens, our third regenerative plant ingredient, featured in our sun care line, our Skin Recovery Serum, and our Vitality line.
Don Jorge and Doña Edith hope to be an example for how to farm in this challenging environment. Today they are inspiring neighbors and helping lands to become ecologically improved.
Mario García, Regenerative Operations Advisor, Thrive Architect & Don Raphael Ocompo Sánchez, Ethnobotanist and Advisor
Mario Garcia and Don Rafa have been with Thrive from the beginning, building the blueprint for our regenerative approach from R&D to extracts. Walk anywhere in Costa Rica and Mario will tell you the story behind every plant. This comes in handy when he puts on his eco-tour guide hat, sharing his love of nature with all visitors.
Don Rafa is a passionate botanist and ethnobotanist. His great wisdom and belief in the power of plants has helped guide Thrive in selecting the plants we use in our skincare. He has also created strong connections between Thrive and Costa Rican farmers based on mutual benefit and regenerative relationships.
Allie B
Thank you to everyone.
Thrive has been the only product that has calmed my skin and healed.
I am so grateful!