Owner Mary A. Wilkowski’s nose led her to Vetiver, and her heart and head keep her here.  In 1997, Mary started to make soap.  As Soap Goddess of her company, Pele’s Bath, she discovered that Vetiver was becoming an increasingly important part of her fragrance recipes.  Her quest to locate artisanal distillers of Vetiver essential oil led her to The Vetiver Network International (TVNI) where she learned that Vetiver's myriad other applications arguably were even more compelling its use in the fragrance industry.  Mary began to grow Vetiver on a small scale.

Her interest led her to several international Vetiver conferences where she eagerly learned from giants in the field about Vetiver’s use in agronomy, water conservation, and civil engineering, among others.  Mary’s colleagues urged her to farm and market Vetiver in Hawaii.  No less a leader than John Greenfield, the “Father of the renaissance of Vetiver” and author of the seminal  Vetiver “Green Book,” told Mary in no uncertain terms that, given its significant erosion problems, Hawaii was long overdue for Vetiver's help.

Incorporating Vetiver Systems Hawaii in 2006, Mary established its farm and tissue culture laboratory within a year, and began to grow Vetiver  commercially.  In 2008, she edited the definitive, technical “Brown Book” of Vetiver by authors Elise Pinners, Tran Van Tan, and Paul Truong, which focuses on the plant’s bioengineering applications. 

Mary’s life hasn’t always revolved around Vetiver, though.  Her career began as a violinist in Detroit.  The youngest teacher ever hired in the Grosse Pointe Public School System, she directed the middle and high school orchestras, and started a community orchestra.  She performed with the Detroit Women’s Chamber Orchestra and occasionally as a studio and backup musician for Motown before it, like Mary, packed up and left town.  Mary landed in Houston where she trained guard dogs, managed a kennel, and performed with the Houston Symphony.

Entering the United States Marine Corps, she completed Officer Candidate School and The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia and the Defense Information School (DINFOS) in Indianapolis before bidding aloha to the mainland and taking a position as Deputy Director of Public Affairs at Marine Corps Air Station, Kane`ohe Bay.

Within 18 months of taking the reins of the Hawaii Marine paper, Mary’s focused efforts garnered the prized Thomas Jefferson award recognizing it as the best broadsheet newspaper in the Department of Defense.    Captain Wilkowski left the Marine Corps for law school in Manoa following two years at the helm of the Joint Public Affairs Office.

Although law school passed in a blur, Mary excelled in writing, moot court, and client-centered clinical courses.  Associate Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Frank Padgett, a notoriously demanding lion of the bench, hired her as his law clerk.

In 22 years practicing law in Hawaii, Attorney Wilkowski focused her attention on contracts, criminal defense, civil rights, and labor and employment law.  Her reputation as a skilled, aggressive litigator, and willingness to challenge the status quo and its purveyors, no matter who they are, created a loyal following.

                  Call Mary:  808-398-5434