Ruth-Ann Thorn was shopping with her daughter at a Sephora one day when her daughter asked a question that changed everything: Where’s the Native American section?
“It kind of started a whole explanation of, Is there anything in beauty that is represented by the first people of this land?” she said. “And I found out that there wasn’t really anything that had ever gone mainstream — the things that there were out there were in small reservations, or maybe in gift stores, small handmade items.”
Thorn is a member of the Rincon Band of Payómkawichum or Luiseño Indians, making her not just a San Diego native but a descendant of the people who were here long before Spanish colonizers first arrived to the region. She is also a longtime entrepreneur, television presenter, and producer who has dedicated her life to the struggle for Indigenous representation.
Her skincare line, N8iV Beauty, is the latest salvo in that fight. The line of beauty oils, serums, sunscreens, and other potions uses black acorn oil as its base, which is known for its anti-inflammatory properties and sourced from reservation land.
The philosophy behind the line reflects her worldview on both individuality and community — and answers the question her daughter asked her about representation back in 2019.
The line has rapidly gained ground in the beauty world, creating a buzz that has translated to a spot on TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential companies of 2026. N8iV Beauty in also listed in a companion article as one of the ten most influential beauty or fashion companies of 2026. (The brand also won a Best of Beauty Award from Allure in 2025.)
Thorn attributes their early success to “luck and hustle.”
“When I first started, I thought it was really important to create the foundation of N8iV Beauty with our own people,” she said. She consulted with tribes and listened to feedback on specific ingredients, then moved on to passing out samples at the Santa Festival Indian Market and events like Coachella, using young Native people as models.
“Some of them had never left the reservation before… We weren’t looking for professionals, we were looking for our people,” she said. “From there, we started getting news coverage, because people found it really interesting.”
Thorn added that she tried to make it clear that her efforts were collective, not just coming from her or her community but from American Indigenous cultures as a whole. She said that she has a lot of pride in the skin care line and in the success that it has already attained.
“The products are really great, and everyone who tries them loves them,” she said. “It’s pushing into areas that we’ve been pushed out of, and that’s what I’m really passionate about.”
Thorn means that metaphorically, but she also means that she is reclaiming space and land as an Indigenous person. She bought a building for her store, Native Star, in the Gaslamp Quarter in 2024 — becoming the first Indigenous person to own property in downtown San Diego in the process.
Thorn said that the purchase of the property was a hugely symbolic act.
“To think there were signs on the gas lamps that said ‘Indians wanted, 25 dollars dead or alive’,” she said, referring to the ethnic cleansing that took place all over the United States over the last several centuries, including particularly bloody episodes in San Diego County.
That history informs Thorn’s beauty philosophy, as well. She said that she hopes that her products will offer not just a way to feel beautiful, but also a radically different perspective on beauty and what qualities makes a person beautiful.
“When colonizers came over, they brought over the colonial model,” said Thorn. “What it means is, is you are rich and famous and you are at the top of that pyramid, you will hold the reins to what beauty looks like… and what’s really being said in this colonial view on beauty is, if you can look like the people on the top then you will have value.”
The beauty that she chooses to emphasize is bottom-up, inherent in each person’s individuality.
“There’s no repeating in nature,” she said. “What is beauty? What creates this idea of beauty? And it’s being an individual, not like everyone else. Everything is an individual, a one of one… it’s a miracle, it’s incredible. We have a view on a human person, which is, why would you want to be someone else? You are the only one who will ever be you.”
While she hopes to continue to elevate Indigenous communities and make them visible, she said that the beauty products are intended for everyone.
“So we are bringing this empowerment to really understand your place on the medicine wheel … that you are so important because you are one of one and you have qualities that the world needs from you, because no one else can fill your shoes.
“When you are looking at beauty through that lens, it’s unbelievable — because you don’t have to look like anyone else.”
