About Us
For over thirty years, Paramedical Esthetician and Mohawk matriarch Tara Tekahentakhwa Tarbell has been weaving ancestral medicine with modern skin science.
Niawen was created from a belief passed down through Haudenosaunee women:
Skincare is ceremony.
A return to the body.
A prayer of remembrance.
A moment to reconnect with the divine within.
Because true beauty is not applied.
It is awakened.
A Brand Rooted in Ancestral Medicine
Tara was raised in Akwesasne, a Mohawk Nation territory grounded in traditional teachings and plant medicine.
From Sweetgrass and Sage to Birch and Chaga, these sacred ingredients have been used for generations to purify, protect, and restore.
These weren’t ingredients in a formula.
They were: stories, teachings, lineage, and spiritual inheritance
This is the foundation of every Niawen formulation.
The Turning Point
When Tara was diagnosed with late-stage kidney cancer, ceremony took on a deeper meaning.
Where others might have collapsed into fear,
Tara leaned into spirit.
Her daily ritual became her lifeline.
Gratitude became her medicine.
And connection became her strength.
Physicians called her recovery miraculous.
Tara knew it was ancestral.
It was proof of the ceremony within us.
Proof of the power we carry as modern matriarchs.
The Meaning of Niawen
Niawen means thank you.
Thank you to: the ancestors, the plant medicines, the life force within all women
Niawen is not just a brand.
It is a remembrance.
A remembrance of our beauty, our resilience, and our spiritual inheritance.
Our Philosophy
We do not believe skincare should be rushed, clinical, or disconnected.
We believe in: slow beauty, clean ingredients, small-batch craftsmanship, intentional formulation, ancestral plant wisdom, ceremony and ritual
Your skin deserves what nature already knows.
How Our Products Are Made
Every product is handcrafted in small batches in Akwesasne, NY.
Our formulations honor: Indigenous ingredients, botanical science, safety, sustainability, purity of source.
We avoid: synthetic fragrance, harsh preservatives, parabens, sulfates, harmful chemicals.
We use only clean, vegan, botanical ingredients.
Made by hand.
Made with ceremony.
Made to restore.
What Makes Niawen Different
We are not just clean beauty.
We are: Indigenous-owned, Woman-led, Small-batch crafted, Ritual-based, Powered by ancestral knowledge.
Our skincare doesn’t just treat the skin it transforms the relationship you have with yourself.
For the Modern Matriarch
Niawen is for the woman: returning to her softness and her strength, honoring where she comes from, reconnecting to her wisdom, reclaiming her beauty.
We believe beauty is not anti-aging.
It is awakening.
We believe ceremony heals.
We believe gratitude is medicine.
We believe you contain the lineage of every woman who came before you.
Our Mission
To create skincare that is deeper than skin-deep.
To invite every woman back into ceremony.
To preserve and honor Indigenous plant knowledge.
To bring ancestral beauty and modern science together in harmony.
Welcome Home to Your Ceremony
This is more than skincare.
It is a ritual.
A remembrance.
A return to the beauty that has always been yours.
Niawen. Thank you.
