Victoria Tsai

Victoria Tsai is the founder and CEO of beauty and skincare company Tatcha. She is a Harvard Business School alum and ex-financier.

After a decade of working for large corporations, Tsai yearned for simplicity and authenticity in her life. Suffering from acute dermatitis and developing a keen awareness of the importance of ingredients on the skin, she began traveling East in search of a more evolved, holistic approach to beauty. On a trip to Kyoto, she discovered a world of pure beauty, craftsmanship and heritage. An encounter with a modern-day geisha changed her life.

Tsai learned classical Japanese beauty secrets passed down by generations that took a different approach to skincare - that less is more. This skin care philosophy and time-tested ingredients were captured in an ancient text widely considered to be the oldest beauty book written in Japan, and perhaps the first such work of its kind. Within its three delicate, thread-bound volumes are seven chapters devoted to beauty and elegance in both appearance and spirit. This special guide informs and inspires the Tatcha collection.

Today, Tatcha works with scientists in Japan and the U.S., to create each formula from scratch, advancing time-honored beauty practices for fast-paced, modern life. The foundation is Hadasei-3™, a trinity of anti-aging superfoods born from the Japanese diet, and the basis for the original geisha beauty rituals: green tea, rice and algae. Every ingredient is carefully selected and minimally manipulated to be gentle and safe with maximum effectiveness.

Tsai splits her time between Japan and San Francisco, rooting Tatcha in a marriage of Kyoto craftsmanship and wellness philosophies with California natural ease. Believing that beauty begins in the heart and the mind, Tatcha's philanthropic model funds girls' education in partnership with Room to Read with every skincare purchase, helping to nurture the beautiful minds of incredible girls in Asia and Africa. In 2017, Tatcha celebrated the funding of one million days of school, which goes far beyond textbooks and classrooms—each day includes life skills coaching, mentorship, and the tools needed to enable a brighter future.