Young Change Makers Promoting Climate Action: Why and How Maria Wodzinska Of Stoic Beauty Is Helping To Change Our World
An Interview With Monica Sanders
Take time to step back. Time in nature is always a great reconnection to the mission.
We are standing at a critical juncture in our fight against climate change, and it is heartening to see young leaders rising to this enormous challenge. Across the globe, they are initiating change, voicing their concerns, and catalyzing action toward sustainable solutions for our planet. These young change-makers are not just the future; they are the driving force of the present. As part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Maria Wodzinska.
Maria Wodzinska is an artist/activist who created a mission-led beauty brand on a mission to create a new standard for water-safe skincare. Together with her mother, Dr. Jolanta Wodzinska, an organic chemist with 20+ years of experience in pharmaceutical drug development, Maria works to make the world more beautiful by promoting healthy skin routines. Great for your skin, great of our water systems.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I was born in Spain to Polish parents who were trying to immigrate either to Canada, the United States, or Australia.
As luck would have it, we came to Canada, where my mother and father both re-did their master’s degrees in chemistry and finished their PhDs at the University of Toronto. With two young children, the immigrant experience was challenging, but we were very lucky to be able to take vacations in Northern Ontario. Canoe trips in Algonquin, camping on Manitoulin Island, hiking the Bruce Trail. These were our summers, and when I fell in love with Canada’s landscape and natural beauty. In Canada, we are blessed with 20% of the world’s fresh surface drinking water, and here I was a new-generation Canadian discovering the beauty of the Great Lakes.
As I got older, my passion turned towards theatre and storytelling. After completing training as a physical theatre artist, I worked for over 10 years with the activist and artist group Clay & Paper Theatre, creating art in public parts and educating youth and adults alike about climate justice. The topics spanned from advocating for bike lane infrastructure in our city, animal/human kinship, and indigenous history of place (including Mimico, the “gathering place of the wild pigeons” on the outskirts of the Greater Toronto Area.
These formative experiences all affected my major career shift during the pandemic. With performance and theatre in jeopardy, my mother came to me with a new idea: she wanted to do something about water safety.
Is there a particular book or organization that made a significant impact on you growing up? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
I read David Abram’s Spell of the Sensuous when I first turned 20. Abram’s work looks at how the languages of many indigenous cultures have embedded traditional ecological knowledge. His thesis argues that because these languages did not develop phonetic alphabets, their “spelling” relies on the sensuous reading of the natural environment. One anecdote he cites involves a language so deeply embedded in a particular forest system, that some words would mimic bird calls with incredible accuracy. If you knew the language, the birds would be able to “tell” you in that same language, that it would rain! Because the kinship of the natural ecosystem was so sustained and developed, the human/animal language gap was crossed! This opened a whole world for me of humility. While I grew up with scientist parents, and a respect for the knowledge systems of Western empiricism, I had an a-ha moment of how much empirical knowledge can arise from direct relationship with land and stewardship of natural ecosystems.
How do you define “Making A Difference”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Making a difference to me is committing to your North Star directive and doing your best every day to get closer to living your values. And knowing you cannot be perfect in this journey — but you can be a collaborator and co-conspirator in positive change.
We are all embedded in systems that are not black and white, and often grey. Individual responsibility is part of climate action, but also, collective support.
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the main part of our interview. You are currently working on promoting climate action. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
My business, co-founded with my mother Dr. Jolanta Wodzinska is on a mission to create a new standard for Water-safe Skincare.
My mother has 20+ years of experience in organic chemistry and pharmaceutical drug development. In her work, she collaborated with toxicologists and understood the rigor of protections needed to ensure that medicines do not contaminate our water systems. She was dismayed to discover that similar standards do not translate into cosmetic products, which, arguably, have more opportunity to find their way down our drain and into our waterways.
With my activist and artist background, and my mother’s keen interest in science-backed, efficacious product development we created Stoic Beauty. Named after the Greek philosophers, we started with the concept that “The Ethical Life is the Beautiful Life” and created products that supported complex skin concerns while also only using ingredients that biodegrade well in water and do not bioaccumulate in aquatic life. Where there is too much scientific debate or not enough reliable research, we opt out of using these ingredients, with the motto “any doubt, it’s out!”
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause? How old were you when you made this decision?
There is truly nothing like water for me. Swimming in lakes, oceans, and rivers, I feel most alive and connected.
While my work as an artist has never been strictly about advocacy for water protection, whenever I made theatre work about climate change and environmental stewardship, my mind always led back to this life-sustaining gift. I was inspired through my work in theatre by the many Indigenous leaders in Canada at the forefront of water protection through their land rights. When my mother approached me with this idea to do our small part to protect water, I couldn’t say no!
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. We don’t always get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
Honestly, it is because of the incredible leaders I have seen working tirelessly in this space. And often I see they are younger than me! Youth, energy, and enthusiasm for a growing movement keeps me going to say: “Yes, I can do my part.”
What are some of the things you did, or steps you took to get started?
Our team started with an abundance of research. When we first started Stoic Beauty, this meant gathering scientific literature and economic/environmental research for over 400 cosmetic ingredients. The list keeps growing too! Once we understand which ingredients we want to use and products we want to make we start experimenting in the lab — and building out our vision for what is “disciplined” formulation. That’s where our “any doubt its out” motto was born.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or takeaway you learned from that?
When I was two years into the business, I was preparing to attend a cosmetic formulator conference in New York. With some imposter syndrome lurking in my mind, I felt convinced I had to look a certain way to play the CEO of a business. During my theatre days, I dressed more like a hippie — think flowing skirts, vintage shirts, and sandals. I went to quite an expensive store to buy an outfit for this conference and had this inner turmoil around spending the money. I had some strange judgment in my head about “selling out” or something — but as luck would have it, as I was leaving the store, there was literally a climate march happening! This was in the financial district of Toronto, and in the crowd were not only the hippy-types I recognized, but corporate types too, joining in. This serendipitous moment made me take a lighter stance on the external circumstances of how I was doing climate justice. It takes all of us, at all levels, doing our part!
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
In this project, truly it is my mother who is my inspiration. She did not have to go into this venture with me, yet she is so passionate about bringing her wealth of expertise to make the world better. Her experience as a scientist and also as a business leader has guided and strengthened my resolve to make Stoic Beauty a thought leader in water-safe skincare.
Without saying specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
When I first started the water-safe mission was the first and foremost area of impact I wanted to see. What I didn’t anticipate is how much people’s lives would be changed by having great skincare. We’ve had customers who have tried all kinds of remedies have great success with our creams. For example, a woman in British Columbia, in her 70s, called us and said she had been house-bound for months because of the embarrassment her rosacea had caused her. She got a free sample of our cream from a healthy lifestyle campaign we ran and had great results: and she went out of her way to find our business line to call us to tell us her experience. Amazing.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Currently, there is minimal regulation around biodegradability in cosmetic products. More oversight than simply the Health Canada registration would make a huge impact.
Fantastic. Here is the main question of the interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?
1 . When you don’t know what to do, just start with the next right thing. Keep going.
2 . Lean on community and mentors.
3 . Take time to step back. Time in nature is always a great reconnection to the mission.
4 . Take care of your mental and physical health.
5 . Get inspired by others!
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
Make this a part of your life, not your whole life and identity. It’ll make it easier to avoid burnout and sustain a mindset of positive action in whatever endeavor you are a part of, whether is it activist theatre work or business like me, or whatever venture suits your skillset and passion.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Young Change Makers Promoting Climate Action: Why and How Maria Wodzinska Of Stoic Beauty Is… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.