An Austrian by birth, and son of an herbalist, Horst M. Rechelbacher is an active
environmentalist, innovative business leader, author, artist, and organic farmer.
At age fourteen, Horst began a three-year apprenticeship in the beauty and salon industry.
With an award-winning career as a hairstylist, in 1965, he started his own salons and
product line called Horst. In 1978, Horst founded Aveda Corporation, a global plant-based
cosmetic company. Nearly two decades later, he sold Aveda to Estee Lauder but remained a
consultant until March 2003. Afterwards, he focused on his new product paradigm, Intelligent
Nutrients, a health and beauty product company, utilizing 100% food-based and organic certified ingredients.
Since the mid 1960’s, Horst dedicated himself to analyzing the chemical constitution
of plants, and pioneered flower and plant-based flavor-aroma-therapy, functional foods,
and nutraceuticals to enhance personal health and wellbeing. He is the recipient of a
honoris causa doctorate in Ayurveda from Gurukul Mahavidyalaya Twalapur, Haridwar University,
India. In his continuing study of plant-based medicine, he collaborates with noted physicians,
chemists and pharmacologists, as well as with experts and traditional healers throughout the world.
Horst was voted one of the most notable Austrians living in America by the Austrian press,
along with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wolfgang Puck. Vanity Fair magazine voted Horst as one
of the most influential environmentalists in the U.S. in 1995 and again in 2005. Horst is
one of the three original founders of Business for Social Responsibility, which promotes the
idea that businesses have the greatest responsibility and opportunity to provide sustainability
to all living species. In 2004, he became a founding member of the Organic Center for Education,
Research and Promotion, and the beauty industry awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2007, the International Congress of Esthetics and Spa presented Horst with the Crystal Award,
and he received the Rachel Carson Award for a Lifetime Commitment to Environmental Ethics & Integrity.
Later that year, the Spa & Salon Professional Association Incorporated honored him as an Industry
Innovator & Legend for his lifetime contribution to the cosmetology industry.
Horst has authored three books, Rejuvenation, Aveda Rituals and Alivelihood.
He was an executive producer on Hidden Medicine, an independent film that premiered at the
1999 Sundance Film Festival. He currently resides in Wisconsin and New York City. His organic
farm in Wisconsin is solar, wind and geothermal powered, and he grows plant ingredients for Intelligent Nutrients products.