La Bella Terre: About Us

Definition: Eco-ista — A person who cares where things come from and where they end up;
a conscientious consumer living an organic lifestyle.

As eco-istas, we promote green living, sustainability and organic farming methods, making considered choices about the pure ingredients we put into and onto our bodies, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive and the products we use in our homes. We honor the past and embrace the future, ever mindful that our collective power shapes our children, our communities and the beautiful earth.

Mission: We educate and support your efforts to lead a healthier life by offering you better choices with regard to the foods you put in your body and the products you put on them. Through our own clear commitment to organic foods and organic body-care products, we not only preserve our own health and natural beauty but also inspire others to be nurturing of themselves and those they love. We redefine “body care” by redefining the body’s care, offering pure botanical-based products that enhance the vitality of the body, mind and soul. We facilitate a life-long shift in perspective while proving that properly caring for ourselves is also the best way to sustain La Bella Terre, the beautiful earth.

Philosophy: At La Bella Terre, we source seasonal ingredients created by nature from herbs, flowers and trees, remaining attentive to each plant’s terroir (the earth in which it’s grown) and alchemy (chemical constituents). Because of our commitment to organic, sustainable farming methods, we have gathered the finest bouquet of pure aromatic oils and base ingredients for your renewal and pleasure.

Scent is as unique as a fingerprint. Smell connects us to the brain’s limbic system — the center of emotion, memory and taste. This direct link gives scent its emotional power, which is why we form strong attachments to things that smell or taste especially good. Much like fine wines, pure essential oils create a sensory impression that is savored forever.

As aroma artists working with only the purest and best natural ingredients, we make aromatherapy the art and craft it is meant to be. Aroma has an almost unlimited palette. Creating a beautiful scent is like writing a poem, scoring a piece of music or painting a picture. It requires both skill and sensitivity to the beautiful world around us. In some small way, we hope to pass these time-honored remedies and life lessons on to you.

Founder’s Story:

Terri Nacke has been an eco-ista in the making her entire life. Many of her early childhood memories such as picking rhubarb in the garden and cooking simple, nutritious food center around her grandmother, who taught her the importance of using “all good ingredients.” In 1970, when she was 12 (and swathed in her favorite nature-inspired fragrance: Love’s Lemons), she celebrated the first Earth Day, proudly placing an eco-green flag on her bedroom bulletin board. That image became the inspiration for her life’s work as an eco-preneur. Terri began eating organically in 1977, frequenting the tiny health food store in Houston, Texas that was to become the second Whole Foods market in the country. She was deeply affected by founder John Mackey’s amazing vision.

In 1986, Terri left the corporate world and began to pursue her interest in healthy lifestyles more seriously. She operated as a licensed massage therapist until she became a mother and chose to stay home for a time. By 1993, she was back at work, this time as a volunteer for the American Heart Association’s Halle Heart Center. In collaboration with the Southwest’s leading chefs, she created two dining series — Masterpiece Chef and Adventures in Cooking — both of which were based on heart-healthy guidelines. She not only raised money for research and development but also co-authored the Kid’s Love to Cook Book, which is still given to every fifth-grader who visits the Halle Heart Center on a school field trip.

The next step along Terri’s self-directed eco-ista path was becoming a certified Holistic Nutrition Educator, trained by naturopathic physicians. While in school, she helped chair the American Express Adopt-A-School launch and participated in the national conference, working alongside James Beard Award-winner and Chef’s Collaborative founding member RoxSand Scocos. During the festivities, Terri met Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters, who founded The Edible School Yard in Berkeley, California. Inspired by the many talented people at the conference, she became a trained master gardener, spending three years as a volunteer for the University of Arizona and raising money for children’s school gardens.

In 1999, her friend Wayne Smith, who owns the lush 10-acre oasis and organic farm known as The Farm at South Mountain, invited Terri to do her “educational thing” on site, and with the help of friends, she opened Garden Territory in 2000, a lifestyle store and education center housed in an old horse stable on the property. She and her pals, affectionately known as the “barn goddesses,” were recognized for their achievements as healthy lifestyle specialists, receiving Best of the Valley and Best of Phoenix awards from Phoenix Magazine and New Times respectively.

When Chrysa Robertson (chef-owner of Rancho Pinot) and Chris Bianco (chef-owner of Pizzeria Bianco) needed a clubhouse for hosting the Valley’s first Slow Food USA events, they turned to Terri, who played an integral role in establishing and supporting the Phoenix Convivium of a global food movement based on local, seasonal, organic foods, sustainability and social justice. At the same time, she was a frequent guest on Nikki Buchanan’s restaurant-centered talk show on KFYI, offering nutritional information and recipes while giving a voice to local growers and farmer’s markets.

Her most recent endeavors have led her full circle. After extensive consultation with a bio-molecular scientist and further training in plant cell therapy with Kurt Schnabelt and Monica Hass at the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy, Terri has created a line of organic body care products — La Bella Terre, Botany for the Body — using therapeutic-grade essential oils and nature’s best ingredients from the garden. Her web-based business, which provides beauty care products for the everyday ritual, is based on her belief that what goes in the body, goes on the body.

Terri has found her balance as a mother, a businesswoman and an eco-ista, celebrating the good life by responsibly using all that the beautiful earth provides.

Other places to find Terri

Memberships:

Les Dames D’Escoffier, with her focus on the Green Tables Farming Initiative
Slow Food, Phoenix Convivia
Visit Terri’s Virtual Atelier at www.labellaterre.com.

Mary Holland – Eco-ista & Vendeur

Mary Holland has for many years followed her instinctive and holistic approach to both her business and personal life. Her business experience and skills have always been focused in selling distinctive and premium products and services to discerning people.

She was a Regional Representative for Lancôme Cosmetics and also owned her own company for 13 years, representing and marketing Photographers and Graphic Artists. Since 2005, Mary has been a Realtor for Russ Lyon in the rustic and earthy environments of Paradise Valley. She is also an active member of the Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce Phoenix chapter.

Although Mary has been involved in those different business streams, there was always a common thread. People and their needs and expectations came first. And because Mary is an attentive listener to her surroundings and nature, she has always been careful and respectful to the detail and the ingredients that makes for something special. This is what she truly cares and strives for. Whether it touches the outer or inner senses, Mary is as passionate and conscientious about what the earth has to offer, as well as how it feeds the inner and outer self. Mary truly believes in only using good, natural ingredients that are also pure and simple.

Her care from where things come from is what inspired Mary to connect with La Bella Terre - “Botany for the Body” It is a mutual and natural affinity that will ignite and stimulate the needs of a growing number of people in all walks of life.