“Women leaving domestic violence don’t need pity. They need a pay slip.”
Wollongong entrepreneur Faith Labaro is drawing on her own experience to grow her botanical skincare business, Nourish Oils, and create flexible employment for women rebuilding their lives.
She is now looking to the Illawarra business community for help finding a warehouse with a commercial kitchen so she can expand production and start employing women.
Labaro, a migrant, solo mother of six, and survivor of family violence, joined the AMP Foundation’s 2026 Tomorrow Makers SPARK cohort, developing her plans alongside other emerging social entrepreneurs.
At the program’s showcase in Sydney on Tuesday, October 27, she pitched the practical challenges women face when returning to work after trauma.
“Think about her week. School pick-up at 3pm. A sick kid on a Tuesday at 1pm. And some days she just needs to rest because she’s still healing,” she said.
“That’s not a woman who can’t work. That’s a job that won’t bend.”
Labaro moved to Australia from the Philippines in 2011. Her experience rebuilding her life, along with years of work in community organisations, helped her recognise a gap between available support and the realities of returning to work.
“When I was rebuilding my life, I didn’t need another program. I needed a pay slip to help me gain my confidence back.”
She began making botanical oils in her Towradgi kitchen, drawing on knowledge from her mother, a naturopath and massage therapist in the Philippines.
The range now includes six products for the body, hair and face. Labaro told the showcase that Nourish Oils sold more than 1,000 bottles in its first year without paid advertising, secured four stockists and attracted repeat customers.
“Nobody buys a gift twice out of sympathy,” she said.
Her next target is 5,000 bottles over the coming year, supported by corporate gifting customers and more retail stockists. Reaching that volume would underpin her ambition to move into a warehouse and put two women on the payroll.
She wants those opportunities to reach solo mothers, migrants, women over 50 and survivors of domestic violence, with work that accommodates caring responsibilities and recovery.
The local warehouse with a commercial kitchen will move the business out of her kitchen and into a space where Faith can expand production and start training women.
Labaro developed her expansion plans through the AMP Foundation program. Chief executive Nicola Stokes told the showcase that Spark gives emerging social entrepreneurs space to test assumptions, strengthen business models and build connections.
“We launched Spark four years ago ... to give emerging social entrepreneurs the opportunity to test their assumptions and to build confidence, business models and connections,” she said.
The foundation has supported 71 social enterprises through the program.
Labaro is asking local businesses to consider Nourish Oils for corporate gifts, introduce her to potential customers or help her find a warehouse with a commercial kitchen.
“I know these women. What I don’t have yet is the jobs,” she said.
“A year from now, I want two women clocking in.”