Mia Davis built a reputation leading the “clean beauty” movement at Beautycounter and Credo Beauty. After a two-year detour as chief impact officer at dog food brand Ollie, she’s returning to the beauty industry at the small “climate-curated” skincare label Atmosphera.
As it plans to expand to the U.S., the Alberta-based brand has brought on Davis alongside three new executive leaders from her Rolodex.
Davis said she will be setting the “roadmap to sustainability” foundation for Atmosphera, which tailors products according to its customers’ local weather conditions.
“If you’re sourcing safe, responsible ingredients from the start, you’re already talking about climate, whether you label it that way or not,” she told Trellis. “I am grateful to be joining a team that is investing in corporate responsibility during this critically important time in the U.S. and for the planet.”
Executive team
Davis became Atmosphera’s chief impact officer Jan. 20, following new co-CEOs Christi Hucks and Katya Johnson, who joined on Jan. 13. On Jan. 27, Chief Operating Officer Steve Raack, former COO of Beautycounter, came onboard.
“We always knew we wanted Mia,” said Atmosphera Founder Katelyn Rousselle. “There was no other candidate.”
One week in, from her Massachusetts office, Davis is engaging with ChemForward, a nonprofit that helps companies find safer alternatives to questionable chemicals. “We will be incorporating ingredients that are safe, science-backed and sourced responsibly,” she said.
She also signed up the company to participate in the Pact Collective, which she was instrumental in launching in 2021. The nonprofit collects otherwise-hard-to-recycle used beauty care containers from bins at Nordstrom Rack and other retail stores. Participants include L’Oréal, Sephora, Ulta Beauty and L’Occitane en Provence.
From advocacy to business
Davis has expressed that business should not shy away from policy advocacy. She spent many years as an advocate for product transparency and safety.
The Clark University graduate holds a master’s degree in international development, community and the environment and a bachelor’s in geography. On campus, Davis engaged in environmental and corporate-reform groups.
Her early professional roles included working on the Detox Nalgene Campaign for Environment America. She continued rallying against bisphenol-A (BPA) and other plastic chemicals at the Workgroup for Safe Markets and then Clean Water Action.
By 2007, Davis narrowed her niche when she became organizing director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, part of the Breast Cancer Fund.
In 2012, she leaped to the business side, becoming startup Beautycounter’s first employee after founder Gregg Renfrew. For five years as head of mission, health and the environment, Davis attracted attention for a unique chemical policy and for piloting the Chemical Footprint Project there. The pioneering “clean beauty” brand expanded to $100 million in sales by 2016. (After a bankruptcy and several-year hiatus, Beautycounter emerged last year with a new name, Counter.)
Then, in 2017 Davis moved over to retailer Credo Beauty as vice president of sustainability impact. There, she launched the Credo Clean Standard, considered one of the strongest safer-chemistry policies in the industry. She also advanced sustainable packaging guidelines and the Credo for Change mentorship program, as well as auditing emissions to set business climate goals.
As chief impact officer at “human-grade” dog food brand Ollie for less than two years, Davis launched zero-waste programs and clean-ingredient standards, advancing responsible sourcing and environmental-contamination testing.
“When I entered this industry about 15 years ago, through the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and then Beautycounter, and then Credo, it was a very different space,” Davis said. “Together, these brands and many others, have changed the narrative, and I’m really proud of that.”