Two decades ago, when her whole world was going dark, the idea of going blind wasn’t enough to cripple wellness entrepreneur Vicky DeRosa’s vision for seeing her way out.

Despite a diagnosis with Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, DeRosa became among the 2% with the disease to sporadically regain her sight — a miracle she attributes to making lifestyle changes including daily meditation and dietary restrictions.

As she worked on her health, she channeled her work ethic and created V Well Health, a health and wellness company applying the ideals from her ordeal: believing that “true healing is both preventive and transformative.”

“We partnered with Fortune 500 corporations, leading hospitals, professional athletes and public figures to design long-term wellness programs rooted in reversing chronic disease and elevating human performance,” DeRosa told Happi. “Our work combined cutting-edge preventive health strategies with the kind of personalized support that produces lasting results.”

Eternal Glow

The next step of that journey, she said, was introducing her first product line, Eternal Glow. Her approach to formulation mirrored her own pathway to health; her goal was to create a skincare line without “water, fillers or synthetic chemicals.”

Launched in 2024, Eternal Glow is billed a “clean,” luxury and food-grade only line with all active ingredients derived from a blend of ancient Greek botanicals.

Its hero product, a face oil, sold out 12 consecutive times in a single year, thanks to an organic community comprising nearly one million women whom DeRosa built around her wellness platform.
While her grandmother scoffed at being called a healer, DeRosa likened her yaya’s kitchen to a pharmacy for creating beauty products.

“She kept a beautiful wooden cupboard, what I now call the Greek Medicine Cabinet, lined with dried herbs in glass jars, tinctures she made herself and oils pressed from olives grown in a very specific region of Greece,” said DeRosa. “Not just any region. She had opinions about this. Strong ones. And I inherited them too.”

DeRosa learned that wild Greek oregano, harvested from mountainsides at the precise moment its essential oils reach their peak, is not merely a cooking herb but a potent antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory. Her yaya used it in everything, as medicine, as daily devotion to the body, she said.

And the benefits to her skin spoke for themselves.

“She had the most luminous skin I have ever seen on a woman of her age,” said DeRosa. “My grandfather’s mother, my great-grandmother, lived to 100. One hundred years on olive oil, herbs, oregano and faith.”

As such, DeRosa insists she didn’t choose these botanicals that she puts in her skincare line; rather, she inherited them. When conducting research on their benefits, she said the science she learned confirmed everything her grandmother had long put into practice.

“The reason I trust these plants so completely [and] built an entire skincare line around them, is because I watched them work across generations of women in my own family.”

DeRosa attributes the success of skin care brand to V Well Health, not as a business strategy, but as a natural continuation of the same mission: healing.

“Vicky DeRosa Skincare is the natural extension of that same purpose. It was born from healing, guided by ancestral wisdom, and created with profound intentionality for every woman who is seeking the same transformation, who senses, perhaps for the first time, that beauty and wellness are not separate pursuits but one and the same truth,” she said.

TED Talks

DeRosa has also developed a meaningful presence as a motivational speaker for TEDx while leading workshops and corporate events centered on holistic well-being and the deeper connection between lifestyle, mindset and health.

“TEDx has an extraordinary ability to carry a message well beyond the room where it was first spoken, across borders, across languages, across the private struggles of people I will never meet; but who have written to me to say that something shifted for them when they heard my story,” she said. “That is the true gift of that stage, the enduring ripple of a message rooted in resilience and hope. A message that continues, quietly and persistently, to find the people who need it most.”

Greek-Inspired Ingredients

In terms of the formulation, DeRosa believes water-free is the future.

“By removing water entirely from my formulas, the products are more concentrated and potent with botanical actives, without the need for additional preservatives or fillers. This approach aligns with our philosophy of conscious, clean skincare,” she said.

A key ingredient in her range is cold-pressed Greek olive oil. The olive oil, she said, is extraordinarily rich in squalene.

“Your skin recognizes it. It absorbs it without disruption, reinforces the moisture barrier, and delivers polyphenols that protect against oxidative stress,” she said. “The ancient Greeks used it the way we use serums today, and the peer-reviewed research confirms exactly why.”

The wild Greek oregano, is harvested from Greek mountain regions at the specific time of year when its carvacrol concentration peaks. Real Greek oregano, she said, can reach 80 to 85% carvacrol, makes it one of the most potent natural antimicrobials and antioxidants she’s worked with.

She also taps into cold-pressed and organic black seed oil, also derived from Greece. Its primary compound is thymoquinone, which has significant clinical documentation for reducing inflammatory markers and oxidative stress in skin. It’s been used in Mediterranean traditions for over 2,000 years, she said.

Eternal Glow’s other “hero” ingredient, 24K gold, has been used for centuries across ancient cultures for its calming and illuminating properties.

“It has a genuine affinity with the skin, supporting radiance, and bringing a luminosity that you genuinely cannot replicate with anything synthetic,” she noted.

Each product in her range has its own specific constellation of actives. The face oil includes rosehip oil, which is naturally rich in a vitamin A precursor and linoleic acid that supports cell turnover and barrier repair. Frankincense’s boswellic acids help reduce inflammation in the body by blocking the enzymes that cause it.

Pomegranate seed oil, found in the body oil, is an abundant source of punicic acid which boosts collagen synthesis, increases epidermal thickness and fights sun-induced damage, she said. Saffron is incorporated to help brighten the skin.

The Grecian Gold face scrub utilizes extra-fine Greek coffee as its exfoliant because the grind is smaller and more uniform than standard grounds, which makes it gentler on the skin surface, DeRosa said. Turmeric, dead sea salt, and bentonite clay work like a magnet, she added, to draw out impurities, excess oil, and buildup from the pores in a way that no amount of surface cleansing can achieve.
Eternal Glow’s hair oil includes castor oil, rosemary and caffeine, which stimulates follicle growth and extends the hair’s growth phase, according to the brand.

DeRosa has authored a book, too. “Beauty Is an Inside Job,” which is a wellness guide rooted in Greek heritage, integrative nutrition and personal triumph, will debut this month.

In the future, Vicky DeRosa Skincare has its sights sets on developing a “100% natural” sunscreen.

“I listen very closely to the problems people have with sunscreens, and I’m doing the research to solve them properly,” said DeRosa. “People need someone who does the hard work for them and I take that seriously.”