MEET DOMINIC SMITH
FARMER & FOUNDER OF DIRAMU
Dominic Smith may not be the typical skin-preneur, a celebrity or social media influencer, but he is an “influencer” in the best sense of the word, respected by many for his engagement on country. With his agricultural background, intimacy with native plants, and a range of partnerships in the skincare space, Dominic created DIRAMU seeing this brand as a promising avenue for influencing inclusion and socio-economic change.
From Yuin nation, the Black Duck People from NSW, Dominic was raised gardening and close to the land, where he learnt about bush medicines and plants. Built from his love of working outside and desire to produce, market and distribute the highest quality Australian native food, he started Pundi Produce in 2014 in South Australia’s Riverland Region, which provides some of DIRAMU’s raw botanicals for our products.
Passionate about conservation and land management, Dominic grows most of his produce using aquaponics. Crops using this method are much less taxing on the environment, using over 1000% less water, land and labour than traditional agriculture. He implements regenerative and eco-conscious agricultural practices and engages other First Nation businesses, promoting greater representation in the supply chain to positively impact their communities and socio-economic outcomes. Dom is also involved in the South Australian drought resilience leaders’ development program. He is involved in efforts surrounding resilience in farming for mental health and adapting to a new system of togetherness - how to work together for the future of native species.
Growing native food has become a vehicle to pursue his passion of providing opportunities for young indigenous people in his community. He has partnered on a Skincare Accelerator Mentorship Program, where he leads the program in the Riverlands region in South Australia, working directly with the mentees to guide them on their entrepreneurial journey to become First Nation Skincare Brands.
Dominic is developing a pipeline of commercial opportunities across industry sectors with the vision to create more opportunities for inspiring young Indigenous people to create their own businesses, from beauty brands to farming. Driven to help his people, Dominic is also in his final stages of a Nursing Degree and is engaged as an Indigenous Cultural Liaison Officer in the Riverlands region.
WALKING & WORKING TOGETHER
Dominic Smith is working in partnership with Lisa Carroll, Director of NATIVE EXTRACTS (NE), to bring this range to life. Lisa Carroll is a change-maker in the ingredient manufacturing space. She has been instrumental in the inception and direction of Cellular Extraction, the growth and communication of new discoveries and plant profiles, and connection to growers.
NE is well-known in the industry for their contributions in harnessing natural Vitamin C (public release 2013) and more recent advances in concentrations, building new libraries of plant profiles of Australian native species and traditional botanicals. Dedicated to evolving the botanical extract, to transparent and traceable ingredients, and to delivering a “True to Nature” plant profile, she has been an influence behind the A(ustralian)-Beauty trend, from ingredient innovation through to consulting on brand development.
Lisa has built a highly experienced technical team with expertise across multiple extraction processes, new technology, R&D, and analytical plant chemistry from acclaimed universities, with an emphasis on conscious manufacturing practices. She continues to launch world-first ingredients, build strategic partnerships to commercialise ingredients under license, expand libraries of botanical ingredients and develop new delivery formats. She is passionate about supporting the growth of an inclusive Australian native primary industry, and “powered-by-nature” solutions for Cosmetics, Pharmaceutical, Nutraceuticals and Beverage sectors.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
We pay our deepest respect to the Traditional Custodians of Country across Australia, to the Elders, past present and emerging; the generations of First Nation people and honour our relationships with all our growers and harvesters, for their knowledge and wisdom, connection to country and their stewardship of the natural world for over 60,000 years.