Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. For Mel Lewis, nothing could be closer to the truth. She is the founder and owner of Kiriwai, a natural deodorant company making chemical-free products to encourage everyone to love their pits.
Mel admits she’s been on quite the journey to reach this phase in her life, where deodorant is both her passion and her living. An awkward teenager - “I looked like a boy until I was at least 14,” she laughs – she was nicknamed Smelly Melly at school.
“Somehow, it stuck,” she tells. “Even now people call me Smelly, or Smelanie.”
The nickname meant Mel was constantly checking to see if she was emitting any offensive body odours. “It made me paranoid,” she says. “As a teen, you go…
