The Founder
Marci Zaroff

Marci Zaroff possesses a unique blend of commitment, compassion, business expertise, aggressive enthusiasm and timely experience. In addition to being the creative inspiration of Under the Canopy, Ms. Zaroff currently oversees and/or manages design, merchandising, strategic development, marketing, media and operations. She is an internationally respected expert and lecturer in the areas of organic food and fiber, a committed yoga practitioner, an artist, a devoted wife and the proud mother of two children.

Marci has been involved in the natural products industry for over 18 years. Having earned a finance and marketing degree from the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business, she spent six years as a licensed financial manager while creating a natural/organic foods catering service. She then founded and ran Gulliver's Inc. in midtown Manhattan, a living and learning center with a retail store, an Aveda Concept Spa and salon and an organic foods café. She was also the publisher and chief editor of Macrocosm Magazine, a 92-page national bi-monthly wellness publication, and the founder of Sierra Natural Resources, an international exporter of natural products and services. These entities supplied health and environmental education and awareness to hundreds of thousands of people.

As Ms. Zaroff's reputation in the natural products, organic and health industries grew and she received continuous inquiries about her products and services, she recognized the need and desire for modern, comfortable, stylish and sophisticated apparel, bedding and accessories made from sustainable materials. This led Marci to create an upscale lifestyle brand of those products. Early in 1996, she coined and trademarked the term "ECOfashion®" and the concept of Under the Canopy® was born.

Marci Zaroff has been recognized as a pioneer of organic fiber fashion, understanding and reflecting the ideal "new mainstream." Through Under the Canopy®'s national mail order catalog, web site, wholesale and private development channels of distribution, Ms. Zaroff has revolutionized organic fashion and has demonstrated that quality, great fit, style, comfort, purity, luxury and modern aesthetics need not be at the expense of social and environmental responsibility.

As a leading expert in the organic fiber fashion movement, Ms. Zaroff has taught countless courses on organic fibers. She is a member of the Organic Trade Association's Organic Fiber Council Steering Committee defining the standards for organic fiber certification. Marci also is an active participant and spokesperson in the global Organic Exchange, a worldwide collaboration committed to propelling the organic fiber industry forward. Ms. Zaroff is a member of the Direct Marketing Association, Coop America, Businesses for Social Responsibility and the Organic Trade Association.

Marci has collaborated with and/or supplied products to many prominent figures in the natural health arena such as Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Benjamin Spock, John Robbins, Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher and world-renowned artist Peter Max. Marci and Under the Canopy are featured regularly in national TV and print media, including appearances on NBC's "America's Talking," on the TV Food Network and on Barbara Walters' "The View". She has been a featured writer for numerous publications, and was profiled on WISDOM Television, alongside Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farms), Mark Retzloff (Horizon Organic), Mo Siegel (Celestial Seasonings) and Jeffrey Hollender (Seventh Generation) as among the nation's leading Chief Executive Officers who are "making a difference."