As happy as I am to see all of these green youngsters on the block, it does my heart a lot of good to see green businesses that were started five or ten years ago, when green was not so hip, get a big boost from all of media attention now turned on all things green.

One example is Pharmacopia which was started in 1999. When the hot thing in entrpreneurism was launching a dot-com, Lisa Levin was quietly blending her own lotions and soaps from essential oils and organic ingredients. Lisa first gained a significant market presence for Pharmacopia products in natural products shops, with the Company eventually getting distribution in Whole Foods and other larger natural food stores.

Fortunately, intuition and personal taste had led Lisa, who designed the company’s identity and packaging herself, to make everything about Pharmacopia as elegant as the high-quality ingredients she uses in Pharmacopia’s line of body care products. Day spas and pampering have become a major retail and hospitality trend, and Pharmacopia is perfectly suited for spas and boutique hotels, such as the Delano boutique hotel in South Beach. As Lisa says, “We can either focus on the fact that we use only pure essential oils and organic ingredients or that we provide a really luxurious product.”

Pharmacopia is now well positioned for the increase in green consciousness. One of the first ways people become concerned about organics and natural products is when considering what to put in and on their body. True pampering now requires the safest and most natural ingredients possible.

And it doesn’t hurt that green is IN. A list of celebrity Pharmacopia clients and high-profile media placements shows how start-studded and high-profile, going green has gone.

Pharmacopia is not just for Grape Nuts eaters anymore. Company President Andreliz Bautista says, “People are interested in green even if their whole lives aren’t focused on it. Green options are what people need.”

P.S. For a related discussion of green or organic body care choices, please see a post on our sister blog, Eco Child’s Play.