TRI-POD Series 5: Nerissa Polke on Liht Organics, ‘makeup safe enough to eat’ : Moodie Davitt Report

The latest edition of TRI-POD, The Moodie Davitt Report’s video podcast in association with The SEVA Group, features Nerissa Polke, a dynamic Singapore-based businesswoman and founder of organic beauty brand Liht Organics, which made its travel retail debut at the recent TFWA Asia Pacific show in Singapore.

Liht is an acronym for ‘Living in Her Time’. The brand was born out of Nerrissa’s personal battle with adult acne and her related desire to eliminate harsh chemicals from everyday cosmetics.

The brand offers high-performance makeup, using up to 90% USDA-certified organic ingredients. All products are vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free and free from synthetic chemicals, fragrances and nanoparticles.

In this compelling episode, Nerissa shares poignant but ultimately uplifting memories of her health struggles and how she overcame them with co-hosts Martin Moodie and Roger Jackson (The Seva Group).

Nerissa joins the top-class TRI-POD Airlines crew, Captain Martin and Chief Purser Roger. “We ask that you please fasten your seatbelts at this time and secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartments. Oh, there aren’t any overhead compartments. We also ask that your seats and table trays are in the upright position for take-off. They may not be much longer.”

“When I first started working in my 20s, I started getting these really bad acne outbreaks,” she recalls. “It was purely hormonal, because I never had it as a teenager.

“My self-esteem was completely bashed out because I remember my clients would stare at me, and my boss would be like, ‘Why is your face like that?’ He literally would say that to me.”

Nerissa tried multiple medications, including steroid injections every month. “My pimples were so big that they wouldn’t even go down – it was pretty extreme,” she reveals. “And those medications were really harsh on my body, drying out all the organs and causing problems like depression.”

**‘Organic makeup that’s safe enough to eat’**

Refusing to accept the situation, Nerissa set about finding an alternative cure, going on a “rabbit hole of a journey”, looking for a factory to produce her own organic brand free from harsh chemicals.

**Martin Moodie first heard Nerissa Polke’s remarkable story during the TFWA Asia Pacific show in Singapore**

By 2019, Liht Organics was ready to go and a sizable domestic market store contract quickly secured. But then Nerissa encountered another health crisis, not a personal one but a global pandemic.

As the world shut down and demand for makeup plummeted, her promising business was grounded before it started.

Take a listen to TRI-POD to discover how this courageous entrepreneur has bounced back and how the future now looks bright for Liht Organics.

We also explore the brand’s ‘Organic makeup that’s safe enough to eat’ tagline. Really? Oh yes, and we bring you proof.

As always with TRI-POD, we also fly our guest on ultra-low-cost carrier TRI-POD Airlines to our resident desert island (with offshore duty-free status).

There Nerissa reveals her favoured duty-free purchase, choice of reading and music, and an intriguing trio of guests she would invite to a private dinner party on the island. ✈