Father Rivera
Hair care brand The ceremony is a celebration of Latin American culture, and many trips to the region helped inspire founder Babba Rivera. The brand uses both popular Latin American hair care ingredients and also references the region aesthetically, for example the bright color-blocked packaging is a nod to old San Juan and the ingredients listed inside the boxes resemble oil cloths in local restaurants.
A frequent traveler, we asked Rivera about her best travel experiences in Latin America and also how her brand (which just became available on Sephora.com) is a symbol of Latinx representation today.
What motivated you to launch a Latinx inspired hair care brand?
Father Rivera: I always knew that I would start a beauty brand and that it would be about my heritage. As someone who grew up in a very homogenous country, Sweden, I never saw myself represented, neither in the products I used nor in the media. As a result, I began to assimilate and minimize my Latinidad. Right before I was young and thinking about starting a family, I began to discover many of these decisions and the path that led me to where I am today. I realized that not being proud of who I am is not something I wanted my children to experience. The Latino community has always been marginalized and stereotyped into people like a cleaning lady or a hot, desperate housewife. I had a limiting belief that being Hispanic was a disadvantage and I wanted to dismantle it. I don’t come from a privileged background, but I’ve been fortunate enough to build my own powerful channels either on Instagram or through my professional connections. I wanted to use them to drive the change I wanted to have growing up.
Father Rivera
The ceremony uses ingredients specially sourced from Latin American countries. Can you tell me some of them and what they do for hair?
This has been one of my favorite things about developing the Ceremony, I have learned so much about the richness of Latino culture – there are so many sacred rituals that are native to the region. There are so many rich plants and fruits that we have been using for decades, but somehow, they have not yet reached the world stage. When we started our formulation, I used native plants and wanted to replace many filler ingredients with natural ingredients. One of our hero ingredients is guava and we have a whole collection of guavas, it’s such a powerful fruit. Guava has about five times more vitamin C than oranges and is packed with antioxidants. It’s also a natural UV protection agent, so it’s in our summer collection. We also use maracuja (passion fruit), babassu, aloe vera and cupuaçu.
What are your favorite places to visit in Latin America? What are the best experiences to have there?
I love Latin America, I want to prioritize traveling there because I find so much inspiration there for Ceremonia. I love Mexico, it’s so easy to get there from the east coast in the US My family is from Chile and one of the most beautiful places to visit there is Valle de Elqio, it’s where pisco is made and it has a beautiful landscape untouched. it looks like a postcard. I also really like Valparaíso, it’s a creative little fishing town. It has a lot of art and was one of the first countries to recognize graffiti as art. I recently spent another six weeks in the Dominican Republic, I loved the ease of life in the Caribbean.
Father Rivera
Which Ceremonia products do you recommend for travel?
Definitely the guava rescue spray and conditioner. Rescue spray will protect your hair against the sun and many of the summer stressors like salt water or chlorine. I usually have it in my beach bag. The smoothing conditioner is perfect for tangled and thirsty hair after a day at the beach.
What are some ways you stay organized while traveling and running your business remotely?
When it comes to work, you have two options – I’m either working or I’m not. I like to set the tone of the work, for example, when I was in the Dominican Republic, I designated a room as my office and put all my Ceremonia products, my laptop and my chair in there. I would be in and out of that space, and with it I would be in and out of work. I would work from 8 to noon, but then take a lunch break with my daughter. I’m trying to be more intentional about my work, before I start and end the day I write down my goals. I decide what I want to achieve and then I do those things first. After all, if I don’t get what I wanted, I create a goal for the next day.
What is your favorite recent travel memory?
Last December when we were in Sweden, the day before my birthday, my daughter just decided to start walking in front of my whole family. It felt like a gift to me and my family. Alma is the best, it’s a real pleasure to travel with her.
