International Women’s Day: Honouring the Heart of Women

International Women’s Day is a moment to pause, reconnect, and celebrate what it truly means to be a woman. It is a day to recognise the deep strength, wisdom and compassion that women carry within them — and to honour the ways we support and uplift one another.

At ilā, this spirit is woven into everything we do.

The name ilā comes from the Sanskrit word for the goddess of truth and Mother Earth. She represents wisdom, grounding and deep feminine energy — qualities that inspired our founder, Denise Leicester, when she created the brand. From the beginning, ilā has been about more than skincare. It is about healing, balance and supporting women in their wholeness.

Denise spent many years studying in India, where she discovered a profound understanding of the connection between skin, energy and emotional wellbeing. In traditional Indian philosophy, the skin is not seen as separate from the rest of the body or the mind. Instead, it reflects our inner state — our emotions, our balance and our vitality.

Within this philosophy, men and women are believed to hold different energetic resources. For women, our greatest resource lies in the heart — an enormous capacity for love, compassion and peace. This inner energy is not only something we feel, but something that can be expressed through our skin.

This understanding became the foundation for ilā.

“I didn’t want to create a skincare brand that only looked at the skin on a superficial level,” Denise explains. “I wanted to create something that recognised women more deeply — our need to nourish our hearts, to restore balance, and to reconnect with ourselves.”

For Denise, this also meant ensuring that ilā honoured women at every level — not just those who use the products, but also those who help bring them to life.

During her travels, Denise visited the farms and communities where ilā’s ingredients are grown and harvested. What she discovered was both powerful and inspiring: women are at the heart of it all.

It is women who carefully pick the delicate rose petals used in ilā’s formulations. Women harvest the nourishing babassu oil, and our shea butter is produced by a dedicated female co-operative whose knowledge and traditions have been passed down through generations.

By working directly with these communities, ilā not only sources exceptional ingredients, but also helps support the livelihoods of the women who produce them. These partnerships provide meaningful employment, financial independence and stability for many of the farmers and producers involved — helping to strengthen both families and communities.

From the earth to the skin, women are present at every stage of the journey.

This International Women’s Day, we honour that collective strength — the women who cultivate the ingredients, the women who create, the women who nurture, and the women who support one another every day.

Because when women come together with compassion and purpose, we create something truly powerful: healing, balance, and a deeper connection to ourselves and to each other.

Today is a reminder to celebrate that connection — and the extraordinary capacity that lives within the heart of every woman.