Metta Murdaya
Founder and wellness visionary

Metta Murdaya

Founder of JUARA Skincare. Author. Global wellness speaker.

Born in Jakarta, raised between Indonesia and San Francisco, Metta Murdaya has spent two decades proving that the ancient wisdom of Jamu belongs in the modern world - and in every spa, home and conversation about what wellness truly means.

Global Wellness InstituteGourmand Award WinnerGlobeAsia 99 Most Powerful WomenGood Housekeeping Shine OnVogue Feature
The story behind JUARA

From burnout to botanical wisdom

Metta Murdaya grew up moving between worlds - Jakarta, San Francisco, New York - absorbing the high-achievement ambition of the West while carrying the deep botanical knowledge of her Indonesian heritage. In her twenties, living life at full speed in New York City, she hit a wall. Burnout, not breakdown - but a clear signal that something had to change. The answer was in her backyard. Not literally, but ancestrally. The Jamu tradition of Indonesia - centuries of herbal healing, botanical rituals and the philosophy that wellbeing is a daily practice, not a crisis response - had been in her family all along. With her closest friends Yoshiko Roth-Hidalgo and Jill Sung, in a small New York apartment, JUARA was born. What started as three friends trying to feel better became an internationally recognised wellness brand, an award-winning book, and a platform from which Metta now speaks to audiences, spa professionals and wellness leaders around the world.
Finding ways to stay balanced and happy is a better life approach than waiting until total overwhelm. Jamu taught me that.
Metta Murdaya story
Global wellness speaker

Speaking to the world about what wellness really means

Metta speaks internationally to spa leaders, wellness professionals, beauty industry executives and consumer audiences on the topics she has lived, built and studied. Her talks weave personal story, Indonesian heritage, scientific credibility and genuine warmth into conversations that stay with people long after the room empties.

01
The Jamu philosophy of preventative wellness
How Indonesia's oldest healing tradition anticipated everything modern wellness is only now discovering — and why prevention through daily ritual is the most powerful health tool we have. Jamu does not wait for the body to break down before responding. It builds resilience before stress arrives, nourishes the barrier before it is compromised, and treats the daily act of self-care as medicine in its own right. In a world now spending billions trying to rediscover what Javanese healers codified centuries ago, Metta brings this philosophy to life with warmth, authority and the kind of personal story that makes an audience understand why ancient wisdom is not nostalgic, it is visionary.
02
Aesthetic Health — beauty, science and the wellbeing connection
The science of why feeling good in your skin is not vanity — it is a measurable dimension of mental and spiritual health. Metta draws on her work with the Global Wellness Institute's Aesthetic Health Initiative to explore what research is confirming and the Jamu tradition has always known: that beauty rituals are acts of self-acknowledgement with genuine psychological and physiological impact.
03
Wellness with a joyful mindset — why joy is not a luxury, it is the practice
Metta's most personal talk, and consistently the one audiences remember longest. Rooted in the Jamu belief that wellbeing must include pleasure, community and sensory experience to be sustainable, this is a direct challenge to the exhausting, aspirational wellness culture that makes people feel worse, not better. A different way to think about what a healthy life actually looks and feels like.
Enquire about speaking engagements
Global Wellness Institute
Global Wellness Institute - Aesthetic Health Initiative Committee Member
Global influence

Shaping the future of global wellness

Metta serves as a committee member of the Global Wellness Institute's Aesthetic Health Initiative - a body that explores the scientific connection between physical appearance, mental health and spiritual wellbeing. The initiative sits at the intersection of beauty and whole-person wellness, and it is precisely where JUARA has always lived.

$6.8T
Global wellness economy in 2024 - the industry Metta helps shape

Through the GWI, Metta contributes to annual trend reports, global summits and the growing body of research connecting ancient healing traditions - including Jamu - to the future of integrative beauty and preventative wellness. Her voice represents Southeast Asian heritage at the highest levels of the global wellness conversation.

Advising the world's spas

Bringing Jamu into treatment rooms globally

Beyond her speaking work, Metta advises spa and wellness businesses globally on integrating Jamu philosophy and JUARA protocols into their treatment offering. Her approach bridges the sensory richness of Indonesian ritual with the standards, language and guest expectations of the world's leading spa environments.

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The Javanese Radiance Ceremony x75 minutes
All skin types A brightening ritual drawn from the Serat Centhini — the great encyclopaedia of Javanese beauty wisdom. Sequential application of JUARA's botanical actives works on three levels simultaneously: removing oxidative burden from the skin's surface, stimulating the collagen matrix, and calming the neurogenic inflammation that drives dullness and uneven tone.
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The Miracle Tea Longevity Ritual x90 minutes
Mature and ageing-concerned skin Rooted in 1,500 years of Jamu anti-ageing medicine, this ritual works with the skin's own circadian regeneration cycle. Balinese prana massage along facial marma points, an extended SMAS fascia sequence, and a warm botanical compress combine with JUARA's fermented tea actives to produce visible lifting, firming and luminosity without intervention.
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The Hand and Heart Rejuvenation Ritual x90 minutes
· All skin types In Balinese healing cosmology, the hands are the primary conduit of prana and the heart is its reservoir. This marma therapy ritual delivers measurable neurological relaxation through vagus nerve activation — while JUARA's Candlenut Body Crème restores the skin barrier through barrier-repairing lipids absorbed at depth.
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Jamu Facial Protocol
A complete treatment room facial protocol built around JUARA products and Jamu philosophy — with therapist training, guest scripts and retail conversion support included. The protocols teach not only the physical sequence but the philosophical and biological frameworks that make each gesture intelligible to the therapist and transformative for the guest.
The philosophy

Wellness with a joyful mindset

Jamu is not just an ingredient. It is a belief that wellbeing is a daily practice, not an occasional luxury.

Metta's philosophy of wellness is rooted in the Jamu concept of balance - between body and mind, between ancient and modern, between serious intention and genuine joy. She believes the skincare ritual is not vanity. It is a daily moment of self-acknowledgement. A pause. A practice.

Wellness is a daily practice, not a crisis response
The Jamu tradition teaches that small, consistent rituals of self-care are more powerful than dramatic interventions. The morning cleanse. The evening oil. The moment of attention your skin receives - and you give yourself.
Wellness is a daily practice, not a crisis response
The Jamu tradition teaches that small, consistent rituals of self-care are more powerful than dramatic interventions. The morning cleanse. The evening oil. The moment of attention your skin receives - and you give yourself.
Wellness is a daily practice, not a crisis response
The Jamu tradition teaches that small, consistent rituals of self-care are more powerful than dramatic interventions. The morning cleanse. The evening oil. The moment of attention your skin receives - and you give yourself.
Jamu Lifestyle book by Metta Murdaya
Winner of 7 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
The book

Jamu Lifestyle

Indonesian Herbal Wellness Tradition

Metta's award-winning book immerses readers in Indonesia's rich wellness traditions - the ingredients, the rituals, the philosophy and the people who have kept Jamu alive for centuries. Part reference, part memoir, part guide to living better. It is the book that explains why JUARA exists and what it stands for.

Winner - 7 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
Eco Beauty Award - Byrdie Magazine
Best Product - Shape Magazine, Women's Health, Cleo
Buy the bookPurchase JUARA

Available in New Zealand and Australia. International shipping available on request.

The JUARA Bali Retreat Experience
Bali Retreat

The JUARA Bali Retreat Experience

Four days in Bali's sacred highlands, guided by Metta. Ancient Balinese ritual, Jamu healing, mindful movement and deep personal renewal. Private places available year-round.

Reserve your place
A Journey Into Yourself
Bali Retreat

A Journey Into Yourself

In the cool, misty highlands of Bedugul, the mind begins to quiet and the body softens into presence. This is a private, personalized retreat—crafted for just you, or a small group of up to four—blending sacred Balinese rituals, mindful movement, energy alignment, and guided reflection. Your path begins with a one‑on‑one healing assessment to align the experience to your intentions, cultivate emotional resilience, and strengthen your connection to yourself.

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Press and recognition

What the world is saying

GlobeAsia
"One of the 99 Most Powerful Women - recognised for her impact on Indonesian wellness, global beauty and social entrepreneurship."
Good Housekeeping
"Shine On Award"
Tatler Magazine
"One of Asias most influential, impacted Fashion & Beauty"
Work with Metta

Bring Jamu wisdom to your audience or spa

Whether you are planning a wellness event, a spa partner programme, a media feature or a retreat collaboration - Metta and the JUARA team would love to hear from you.

Get in touchBook the Bali Retreat