“Life is learning, it is not just enjoyment. We also have to eat the shit that touches us”. With this phrase, Marcela Aristizábal defines what she has experienced along her path and that has been inspiring, not only for the creation of her successful Wild Fruit brandbut because of the way he has faced and overcome the challenges that life has thrown at him.
Aristizábal was born in Caicedonia, Valle del Cauca. From there she left forced by violence, violence that claimed the life of her first partner, the father of her son, Juan Alexander.
But, in addition to the armed confrontations that took place in that region, another determining factor in her decision to escape was the abuse that she began to suffer from her new partner.
She approached this man with the intention that he help her in the process she was going through. However, when things did not go well and she decided to end the relationship, the problems began. That person became violent, to the point of kidnap her for a few days.
Not content with his irrational debauchery, the man planned an attack. He sent her to make the ‘shampoo’. An unknown person placed a cap filled with corrosive glue on his head, which began to burn his hair and scalp. They had to shave her to heal her wounds. The alleged perpetrator of the brutal attack, days later, committed suicide.
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Hidden in the suitcase of a car, still without healing the injury suffered in her body and despondent and traumatized in her soul, she left Caicedonia forever. Everything, because people close to whom she took her life wanted to take revenge on her.
I arrived with my hair dead and with a smell of gasoline that did not go away
After hiding in different places, he arrived in Medellín.
“I arrived with my hair dead and with a smell of gasoline that did not go away,” he recalls.
He began to study law and audiovisual communication to try to forget his problems. Also, she began to think that there had to be something that would remove the uncomfortable smell.
Thus began a marathon investigation of the chemical composition of fruits. The first thing he studied was the aloe stalk, with which his hair was very dry, but the smell was diminished. Subsequently, he analyzed the chemical composition of the fruits to find out what active ingredients could recover your hair and eliminate the annoying smell.
In the search, she discovered that bananas, papaya, penca, honey, goat’s milk, among other fruits and products, had a chemical composition that was in accordance with what she was looking for for her treatment. She mixed the components in different measures to achieve a balance and began to apply it herself until she regained her vital and lush hair.
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“After a while of using the treatment I had created, my friends asked me how I managed to have such beautiful hair. I was embarrassed to tell how she had done it because that was related to why, ”says Aristizábal, a name that she also changed, because her real name was Ángela Marcela Arias Aristizábal.
Marcela is the mother of: Juan Alexander, the oldest; then Hummingbird; Inti Nawal, a boy with Down syndrome and Alondra Manantial, the youngest.
Upon arriving in Medellin, he made himself known with his middle name and his mother’s last name, as a protection mechanism.
At first, he called the successful product ‘Fruit Treatment’, and as both his family and friends asked for it, Aristizábal continued to investigate so that his product would work on other women who had hair different from hers.
So, he began to manufacture the product and give it to his acquaintances with the variations they needed, until it became very popular.
But another tragedy, which would inspire her, knocked on her door. Indeed, when everything was going wonderfully with her new life and her nascent company, they detected her early cervical cancer.
The affliction that undoubtedly overwhelmed her was also the incentive to embark on a new stage in her life. She started by researching healthy and natural eating.
“Just as I had already done with my hair, I began a drastic change in my life. I removed the breast prostheses I had and began a new stage of personal growth in favor of a healthy and, above all, peaceful life”, says Aristizábal.
Today, after several changes of address, the company that started with a budget of 120,000 pesos is operating in the Santa Elena district. It has already completed nine years of operation.
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“’Fruto Salvaje’ has an inclusive and self-improvement approach. Is under all, for empowered women and heads of household, without neglecting the role of mothers and caring for their families, cooking, taking care of the children and enjoying the work of a mother, something that I also do with all my love. This, I instill in those who work with me, ”she explains.
Supporting the women of Santa Elena was also key because when she arrived in the territory, the cradle of the silleteros, she realized that many women lived in the midst of machismo and domestic violence.
Just as I had already done with my hair, I began a drastic change in my life. I removed the breast prostheses I had and started a new stage of personal growth in favor of a healthy life
Currently, the company not only provides them with a decent job, but also the employees have psychological and social support Permanently.
In Medellín, Marcela met her new love: Paisa Jonnathan Calle. He awakened her desire to work, to improve herself and took away my fear of telling her story.
One day, she remembers, she woke up empowered and told her story on Instagram. Later, different people started asking for her hair treatment.
The first day he sold 30 units, the second 100 and after three days he decided to quit university and focused fully on studying hair treatments and developing them.
In this way, ‘Fruto Salvaje’ began the task of making itself known and reaching very famous women in the country who in turn endorsed the products for their quality and results.
The company has more than 500 direct employees and more than 1,500 harvesters, indirectly. They are currently linking people with disabilities or different abilities.
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The first one who started as a seller of the products, which today are called ‘Harvesters’, was her sister. This awakened in Aristizábal the idea that the products be sold by women who are heads of households.
Thanks to the Plan Cosechadoras de Flores, today the ‘Fruto Salvaje’ hair treatment products, shampoo, conditioner, toners, body soaps, among other products, are available throughout Colombia, in chain stores with its Miel de Colibrí stores, and in countries such as Australia, the United States and Canada.
Marcela’s avatars, however, do not end. In November of last year she was diagnosed with new cancer, this time thyroid.
He had a complex surgery. While she was recovering, and as if that were not enough, one of her cats fell to her death from a window in her house. These months that he spent he dedicated to concentrating on his recovery. Today she is completely healthy. This is why this year’s campaign is called ‘Reborn’, like her life in which she has had to be reborn many times.
ESNEYDER GUTIERREZ
For the time
