Chika Ravitch is a professional makeup artist and certificated facial
masseuse in Japan. She has a degree in analytical chemistry and wrote
her senior thesis on the effects of lithium on the human body and
mental health. From there, she began working for a Japanese cosmetics
company, VECUA, for years. She was an area manager, which included the
responsibility of overseeing five shops throughout the Kansai region. In
this role she was able to learn a lot about business management and also
about the benefits of Japanese approaches to healthy living.
As an executive at VECUA, she received special training each month
on nutrition, skin biology, the effect of cosmetic ingredients on skin, and
human biology. When she moved to the United States, she immediately
noticed the prevalence of unhealthy processed foods. She decided to
use her knowledge to teach people who want to learn about Japanese
nutrition and cooking how to make traditional homemade Japanese dishes
that are both healthy and delicious, and led to her creation of the blog
Your Home for Homemade Japanese Food.