The Full Story
About the Founder
​Creation has always been Mariah Michaud’s first language.
Before Cleo Salt existed—before the jars, the brand, and the name—she moved through the world as an artist, attuned to beauty, nature, and the subtle intelligence of life itself.
Again and again, her attention returned to salt.
Across civilizations, salt has sustained life. It preserved food long before refrigeration, sealed covenants, purified, healed, and nourished the body. Entire trade routes were built upon it. Salt was never incidental—it was foundational.
And yet in the modern world, this most essential element has been reduced to something processed, diminished, and forgotten.
To Mariah, this felt like a quiet distortion of something sacred.
A Calling
One passage followed her for years:
“You are the salt of the earth.” — Matthew 5:13
Historically, salt represented purity, preservation, and what is essential to life itself. To be called “the salt of the earth” was to be aligned with what sustains and protects.
Over time, Mariah began to feel that this message was not only symbolic—but elemental.
Salt, real salt, still mattered.
The Birth of Cleo
Cleo Salt began with what she can only describe as a moment of clear inner knowing.
She was shown a source of salt so ancient, so pure, and so untouched by modern contamination that the message was unmistakable:
This was not meant to be hidden.
Not altered.
Not diluted.
Not industrialized.
Just as it was formed.
A simple instruction returned again and again:
Bring the salt back to the people.
Cleo Salt was created in response to that calling—an effort to restore reverence to one of the most essential elements on Earth, and to reintroduce it in its purest expression for modern life.
​The Philosophy of Cleo Salt
The Nature of Salt
Salt is more than seasoning, it is one of the most fundamental minerals that makes life possible.
The human body functions through an intricate system of electrical signals that allow nerves to fire, muscles to move, and cells to communicate. These signals rely on electrolytes—minerals that carry electrical charge throughout the body.
Sodium chloride, or salt, is one of the primary electrolytes that supports this process.
In this way, the body operates as a living electrical system: a continuous exchange of mineral ions across cellular membranes that sustains balance, movement, and vitality.
For thousands of years, salt was understood instinctively. It was valued not only for flavor, but for its essential role in preservation, survival, and life itself. It was protected, traded, and revered across civilizations.
Over time, that relationship shifted.
Modern industrial processing has altered much of what we now recognize as salt - refining it, stripping natural trace minerals, and introducing additives such as anti-caking agents. In doing so, the original integrity of salt has often been reduced.
The Cleo Approach
Cleo Salt was created to preserve salt in a form that remains closer to its natural, elemental state.
Unrefined.
Clean.
Free from unnecessary additives and industrial alteration.
An ingredient honored for what it has always been: one of the Earth’s most essential expressions of mineral life.
Not engineered.
Simply restored.
The Cleo Standard
Cleo Salt is guided by a simple
but uncompromising philosophy: an essential element deserves exceptional care.
Every jar reflects four core standards.
Purity
Cleo Salt is sourced from a geologically protected mineral deposit, naturally isolated from modern ocean pollution.
This allows the salt to remain exceptionally clean and
stable in its mineral composition.
Integrity
Nothing is added. Nothing is altered.
Cleo Salt contains no fillers, anti-caking agents,
artificial additives, or industrial processing steps
designed to alter the natural salt crystal.
Origin
The character of salt begins with where it
comes from. Cleo Salt is sourced from a single,
ancient mineral origin, where the salt formed long before modern environmental contamination existed.
Reverence
Salt is not a commodity.
It is an element that sustains life itself.
Cleo treats it with the respect it deserves, preserving
its natural form and presenting it with the care
and beauty worthy of something so essential.
Return to Your True Source
"You are the salt of the earth."
Matt.5:13
