We have to hand it to Tata Harper and the wonderful people who work with her. Not only are they putting out an exceptional, clean product, but they’re doing everything they can to raise awareness and further the conversation around chemical exposure.

Case in point:

Last night Tata hosted an intimate event at the Gold-LEED-certified Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills. Yes, it was chic and tastefully fabulous, but not a whole lot of time was spent drinking and chatting. This was about serious stuff.

I had the honor of moderating and introducing the impressive roster of guest speakers. The first was Dr. Soram Khalsa, a pioneer of integrative medicine and an expert on the body burden caused by chemicals in our environment. His talk, which was riveting, also looked at the absolute most recent studies on phthalates and other hormone disruptors. More to come on that for sure. We also plan to pick his brain about vitamin D and the latest recommendations since, as it happens, he’s written a book about D.

Next up was Ken Cook, the president of the Environmental Working Group. His presentation was inspiring, and it really changed the way I think about some of the arguments, especially those around low-dose chemical exposure. The EWG is a controversial group—and the industry just loves to paint them as fear mongers—but at the end of the day we would be nowhere without their tireless research. It was really something to hear from the man behind the mission.

And then there was Christy Coleman, the first fashion and celebrity makeup artist to entirely clean out her makeup kit. Christy, who has worked with every model, photographer and actress worth their salt, gave such a touching and personal talk that I immediately fell for this gal. She also has a great blog, with a ton of natural makeup tips. Siobhan and I are already angling to collaborate.

The event was filmed so maybe we’ll be able to share these talks with you directly. Regardless, we’ll try to impart some of the night’s lessons in posts to come. I felt so lucky to be there!

Loving this drawing by Dan Perjovschi