Maine is home to miles of inviting coastline, which gives us proximity to a prolific ocean whose treasures are many. The benefits of the sea go beyond swimming, sailing and fishing. Today we speak with Dr. Mike and Wendy Taylor, developers of Ocean Elements skin care products, and Tollef Olson whose company, Ocean Approved, harvests nutrient-rich sea vegetables for eating. Listen to our conversation and understand the sea in a new way.
Dr. Michael Taylor is a retired dermatologist who has had a career-long interest in public health, international health, and community medicine. His wife, Wendy Taylor, began her career in long range planning, market research, marketing planning, and marketing management in large financial institutions in Chicago and Colorado. The husband-and-wife team later founded Konbit Sante Cap-Haitien Health Partnership. More recently, and the reason why we have them in the studio today, they founded Brightwater Bay Science, LLC, a Maine-based company whose focus is on skin health. Ocean Elements™ is a Brightwater Bay Science brand, and in May of this year, they introduced the first product—a daily moisturizer.
Long before Tollef Olson founded Ocean Approved, his Maine-based kelp company, in 2006, he was patiently waiting for kelp’s breakout moment on the American food market. It took thirty long years. What Olson, a Maine native and serious foodie, did in the meantime was to circle the world’s oceans: fishing for hire, salvaging shipwrecks, and chasing down big waves. Kelp was always on his mind. He knew that most of Maine’s indigenous coastal peoples had used kelp as a food staple in past centuries and that it was delicious when married with local shellfish and vegetables. Now at long last, and with a lot of help from Olson, kelp is having another moment on the culinary stage.
