Over the course of more than two decades, Young Living has become a remarkable success story. Built from the ground up by husband and wife team D. Gary and Mary Young, Young Living has grown into a global phenomenon — largely a result of their tireless work ethic, uniquely complementary chemistry, and shared passion for their life’s work of sharing pure essential oils with the world. Read more about Gary and Mary’s storyhere.
In June of 2015, Gary voluntarily stepped down as CEO of the company to have more time to focus on writing books, philanthropic efforts, sharing his knowledge of essential oils and his many varied interests. Mary was promoted as Young Living’s new Chief Executive Officer where she has helped oversee the launch of many new initiatives and products, including the Savvy Minerals and Seedlings product lines.
Gary Young: A Modern-Day Pioneer
It’s no secret that D. Gary Young is the modern-day father of essential oils, but few people know the details of his life and what led him to unlocking the pure power of plants. Gary Young has dedicated his life to researching the traditional methods of distilling botanicals and pioneering Young Living’s proprietary Seed to Seal process.
At age 18 in 1967, Gary packed his red Mustang and drove to Canada to live his dream of homesteading a ranch on the Canadian frontier. In 1968, Gary got 320 acres in the Cariboo District of British Columbia, where he began building his horse ranch and logging business. In 1973, Gary was injured in a logging accident that left him unable to walk or provide for his family.
After the accident and on his road to recovery, Gary moved to southern California to continue his education. He opened a small office there and also opened a research center in Baja, California, Mexico. His goal was to help others with their physical and emotional well-being.
After his introduction to essential oil research, Gary spent time in France with medical doctors to learn more about wellness. He returned home with 13 oils and began experimenting with them to learn more about their usage and application. Since there was little information available in English, Gary’s efforts truly put him on the frontier of essential oil science as he began to discover the potential and uses of essential oils and blends.
Armed with his ever-increasing knowledge and driven by his desire to share essential oils with the world, Gary sold his research facility and started his own marketing company. Young Living was born from the immense possibilities that essential oils offer for physical, emotional, and spiritual application.
When Gary started Young Living, he was a “one-man band,” answering the phone, filling orders, and calculating commissions. This continued for months until the business had grown enough that he felt he could start hiring a few employees.
Gary soon decided to try his hand at distilling his own essential oil. In 1991, his dream of distillation came true with a specially made pressure cooker on the stovetop.
After experiencing a small taste of success with his stovetop distiller, Gary began sketching new ideas for larger distillers.
In 1992, Gary purchased his first farm of 160 acres in St. Maries, Idaho, in order to grow more plants for production and to further his research. This is what seemed to Gary as the beginning of what would become his great farming legacy.
Gary began the construction of his fourth distiller in the summer of 1994, but this time it was to be a full professional distillery. Gary's Uncle Jack is seen here with their first stationary stainless steel vertical steam distiller.
Gary and his Uncle Jack built their first tractor-pulled planting machine in 1993. This innovation greatly increased the number of starts planted every day. What once took a crew of eight people 10 hours to plant by hand, now took three people one hour.
In 1997, operations at the St. Maries farm expanded and the original foundation logs were covered with concrete and steel to fortify the structure.
Gary moved Young Living Essential Oils to Riverton, Utah, in 1993. Two years later, he bought 160 acres in Mona, Utah, where he built green houses and planted crops. The Mona farm has now become a worldwide destination for the entire family, just as Gary envisioned in 1995.
In 2002, Gary's mentor Marcel Espieu, who was president of the Lavender Growers Association for more than 20 years in southern France, visited the Young Living farm in Mona. After seeing all that Gary had accomplished in America, Marcel declared, "the student has now become the teacher."
In 2011, Jean-Marie, Benoit, Jean Noel, and Gary merged their farms together to create the largest true lavender farm in the world.
Gary's dedication to health and wellness extends beyond essential oils. He was the first to import tons of Ningxia wolfberries for commercial use after learning about their extraordinary benefits.
In the early 1990s, Gary began his search for an ancient strain of wheat unaffected by hybridization or genetic tampering. Gary first found einkorn growing in Hunzaland in Pakistan in 1995 and planted the first test crop in 2011 at the Young Living farm in Mona, Utah.
Gary visited Ecuador in 2005 and quickly realized that the climate in Guayaquil would enable him to farm year-round. Today, Young Living's farm in Ecuador provides jobs to locals, education for students at the Young Living Academy, and essential oils to the world, including Dorado Azul, Ylang Ylang, Eucalyptus Blue, and Lemongrass.
To identify chemical compounds and test the quality of essential oils, Gary combined a gas chromatograph (GC) with a mass spectrometer (MS). This incredible machine is the only one in the world, and it allows for new research on essential oils, oil compounds, and new aromatic plant discoveries—all in one apparatus.
With a desire to bring authentic Frankincense essential oil to the world, Young Living created its first distillery and extraction chamber. Gary is seen here with Mahmoud in Salalah, Oman, in 2010. Today, there are seven extraction chambers for Frankincense and Myrrh essential oils.
In Split, Croatia, the first distillation of Helicrysum took place 19 days after a Young Living facility was established. This new building allows for members and visitors alike from Europe, Russia, and the Adriatic countries to experience and participate in the Seed to Seal process on their continent during harvest times each year.
Young Living's Highland Flats farm in Idaho hosts a Winter Harvest each year, inviting members to come join in the experience. This new distillery became the first automated, large-scale capacity, computerized distilling facility ever built for essential oils. A block of 12 tons of distilled blue spruce chips, which produced 14 liters of oil, is shown here being hoisted from the chamber.
In July 2014, Gary broke ground for the Northern Lights distillery to better support the demand for Black Spruce oil to the growing number of Young Living members.
We're proud of all the pure, authentic essential oils that are produced by our global farm operations.
There will always be some oils in the world that we cannot grow on our own farms, so Young Living has developed partnerships with farmers throughout the world. To become Seed to Seal certified, all partner operations are monitored and audited, and all incoming oils are tested before they are approved and become part of Young Living’s inventory.
As of July 2015, Young Living has eight farms and distilleries in operation in six countries, along with many partner and cooperative farms and a state-of-the-art warehouse that ships 18,000–24,000 orders daily. This is a remarkable legacy for the man who came from such simple beginnings.
Gary grew up farming and living off of what Mother Nature offered, which has given him a tremendous advantage in his life’s path. He has invested 34 years in the research of essential oils and their uses and 29 years learning how to blend oils for maximum synergistic benefit.
Gary has spent more than 25 years farming aromatic plants, learning distillation and analytical evaluation, and traveling to the far corners of the earth in his study of essential oils. He has designed and built eight large distillation facilities around the world, with others in various stages of planning. Only Young Living has the exclusive access to D. Gary Young's history of research and development of essential oils in the areas of production, usage, research, and education.
D. Gary Young is a pioneer in essential oil research, an inventor of equipment, a developer of best processes, a scientist and formulator in the laboratory, an educator on the cutting edge of discovery, and a leader in usage and application.
Today, with the education and experience of nearly 30 years in growing crops for essential oil production, and designing, building, and operating distilleries around the world, D. Gary Young has certainly earned the distinction of the World Leader in Essential Oils.
