Meet Carla Oates - Founder Of The Beauty Chef

Founded by Carla Oates

“I’m passionate about raising awareness of the link between beauty and gut health and hope that my products will not only make your skin glow, but help you feel better, too.”

My Story

Carla Oates created The Beauty Chef in 2009 after healing her family’s skin issues and discovering that beautiful, glowing skin begins with a healthy gut.

Carla spent the first 10 years of her working life as a fashion stylist before turning her attention to beauty writing. But the allure quickly wore off as she became alarmed by the synthetic substances and toxins contained in many commercial beauty products. She began writing about healthier, natural alternatives made from plants and organic foods and wrote her first book, Feeding Your Skin, published by Penguin Books.

By then she was a mother of two small children, who are now teenagers. When her daughter began to experience similar skin issues to the eczema and allergies she herself had experienced as a child, Carla put her family on a gut-healing protocol that included probiotic-rich, lacto-fermented wholefoods. Very quickly Carla noticed a profound difference in her daughter’s skin, as well as the improved wellbeing of the whole family.

When friends and family began asking why her skin looked so ‘glowy’, Carla realised the power of the gut-skin connection and the importance of beauty from the inside out. She began experimenting with lacto-fermenting skin-loving superfoods in her Bondi kitchen and that’s how GLOW—The Beauty Chef’s first inner beauty powder—was created.

As a pioneer in the inner beauty category, The Beauty Chef now has a range of bio-fermented, probiotic-rich wholefood supplements and organic topical skincare products.

Carla works on her unique formulas with a team of leading microbiologists, naturopaths and nutritionists, employing cutting-edge research to develop products that support gut health and glowing skin—beauty from the inside out.

Our Philosophy

We believe that ‘beauty begins in the belly’®—that when you are healthy on the inside, your skin radiates a natural glow that no amount of cosmetics can replicate.

“It doesn’t sound very glamorous, but the gut is where the seeds for health and beauty are planted,” says Carla. “Clear, glowing skin occurs when you feed your body nutrient-dense food and cultivate a healthy gut microbiome—the mini ecosystem that lives inside each one of us and is home to trillions of microorganisms and over 1000 different species of bacteria.”

The centre of your immune system, the gut is where you make neurotransmitters, regulate hormones, neutralise pathogens, eliminate toxins, produce feel good neurotransmitters and manufacture nutrients. So the state of your microbiome has a profound impact on your skin, mood, weight, immunity, brain health and overall wellbeing.

If you are not eating well, or more importantly, not digesting your food well, then your skin will not be receiving the nutrition it needs to keep it healthy and glowing. More and more research is linking skin issues to the disruption of normal gut flora.

“Where there is gut inflammation, there will be skin inflammation, which is one of the leading causes of premature aging and can contribute to the degradation of collagen and elastin,” says Carla. Studies also show that people who have a healthier gut microbiota may have a healthier fatty acid profile in their skin, “which means their skin is more hydrated, plump and radiant.”

Your skin, body and microbiome need to be nourished properly with amino acids, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, prebiotics and probiotics; all of which can be obtained from unprocessed wholefoods as well as bioavailable and assimilated lacto-fermented foods like those found in our products.