Palmarosa Essential Oil Profile

Dana Merrill Haefner (nee Gass) was born and raised in Denver. She is a fourth generatio
Colorado native whose great grandparents came from Belorussia and (probably) Moldova.

Dana attended Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. She earned an A.B with honors in East Asian Studies. She worked for Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dick during one of her summer vacations, organizing an international business conference with China. Dana loved Harvard and especially enjoyed being selected for a one semester poetry writing intensive with Seamus Heaney while she was there.

After graduation, Dana spent the summer translating for a Chinese delegation at the Boston Museum of Sciense and Industry, then became the first non-Chinese ever to live in Tangshan, China, where she taught English at the college level. While in China, Dana found her interests turning from diplomacy to natural healing. When she returned from China, she started her own business, now known as Kamala Health & Beauty, Inc.

Dana worked briefly as a massage therapist and as a book exporter before opening her own retail store in Champaign, IL in 1993. Her store grew and changed, moving to Evanston, IL in 1997. Dana’s business became well-known at the Bristol Renaissance Faire near Chicago. the Ohio Renissance Festival near Dayton, the Virginia Renaissance Faire (now defunct), and the Colorado Renaissance Festival in Larkspur. She makes and sells over 300 types of oils and perfumes, over 150 medicinal herbs, and over 60 incenses. She married Milwaukee native Karl Haefner in 1992 and they decided to move to Colorado Springs in 1994.

Here in Colorado Springs, Dana runs her business from the online site www.kamala.com, continues to do renaissance fairs in the summer, and works part time as a CNA. Having been away from Colorado for nearly 20 years, she feels continually elated at being back near her beloved mountains, and strives to learn as much about local history and ecology as she can in her spare time. She has a special interest in native tribes and local herbs. Dana loves to hike, although she doesn’t get to do it nearly as much as she would like to.

Dana lives with her Maine Coon cat and is especially fond of this large and loving breed of cat. She collects the art work of Edward Gorey. She loves to drum, both on her djembe and on her doumbek. She also belly dances when she has time. Dana also greatly enjoys interviewing high school students for admission to her alma mater Harvard University.