From Firefighter to $50 Million Real Estate Portfolio to a Two-Part Balm and Alberta Wagyu: Michael Diamond’s Next Big Bet
Former firefighter and Alberta real estate investor Michael Diamond has turned his attention to a jar with just two things in it. His company, RAWFACE Skin Ltd., reached 50 retail locations in Canada and the United States, including major grocery chains, within six months of its February 2026 launch.Press release for
Courtesy of RAWFACE Skin Ltd.Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada - Monday 2nd November, 2026 - Michael Diamond’s first career was running toward emergencies as a firefighter. By age 33, he had built a multifamily real estate portfolio across Alberta valued at more than $50 million. His latest venture fits in the palm of a hand: a jar with exactly two things in it.
Diamond is co-founder and CEO of RAWFACE Skin Ltd., an Alberta company that makes a premium balm from just two things: tallow rendered from Wagyu cattle raised on a single Alberta ranch, and organic beeswax from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. There is no water, fragrance, filler or synthetic preservative in the jar, and every jar is made 100% in Canada.
RAWFACE launched commercially in February 2026. Within six months, it was on the shelves of 50 retail locations in Canada and the United States, from independent boutiques and salons to major grocery chains.
“Real estate taught me that you make your money on the buy, not the sale,” Diamond said. “With this product, the buy is the raw material. If you get that wrong, no amount of marketing fixes it.”
Diamond brings a track record of building from the ground up. He was named a 2025 Business Elite 40 Under 40 recipient, and his real estate company, Diamond Wall Properties, was recognized as a Top Multifamily Affordable Housing and Investment Company in Canada for 2026.
Tallow, or rendered beef fat, was a household staple for generations before synthetic emulsifiers took its place. It has made a comeback in recent years, much of it sold in plain jars at farmers’ markets. RAWFACE took the opposite approach, with a $55 price point, minimal modern packaging and streetwear apparel carrying the brand’s tagline, “Face it, you like it raw.”
“Tallow came back as a trend, and trends get copied until nobody can tell one jar from another,” Diamond said. “We wanted fewer things in the jar, better ones, and a brand you’d recognize across a room.”
The company visits its Alberta ranch supplier every season. The tallow is triple-purified and kept dense and unwhipped, which RAWFACE says limits the oxidation that air introduces. The balm is CertClean certified, meaning the product has been reviewed against that organization’s standards.
Rather than launch fast and fix problems later, RAWFACE spent all of 2025 refining the product, securing suppliers, building manufacturing relationships and filing trademarks. Diamond also assembled a leadership team built to scale. President and Co-Founder Gary Sahota heads sales. Chief Operating Officer Montana Jade Lee spent about eight years at fitness platform Fitplan managing partnerships with professional athletes. Executive Partner Dr. Ray Haija is an NFLPA-certified agent with more than a decade in professional sports and athlete representation.
That team has helped bring the brand into the world of professional sports, and the company says professional athletes and UFC fighters now use RAWFACE.
“Natural products have been stuck in a farmers’ market look for too long,” Diamond said. “We wanted a brand a professional athlete would actually put in his travel bag and be seen with.”
RAWFACE recently released its second product, the RAWFACE Tallow Cleansing Bar, and is developing a premium Amazon storefront, further retail expansion and additional personal care products built on the same sourcing.
Diamond is direct about where the company stands. “We’re early, and I won’t pretend otherwise,” he said. “But I’ve built from a standing start before. The goal is a brand people recognize before they read the label, in Canada and well beyond it.”
The RAWFACE Wagyu Tallow Balm retails for $55 CAD and the Tallow Cleansing Bar for $18.50 CAD at rawfaceskin.com.
About Us
RAWFACE Skin Ltd. is an Alberta-based company making premium personal care products. Its flagship Wagyu Tallow Balm is 100% made in Canada from just Alberta Wagyu beef tallow and organic Okanagan beeswax, and is CertClean certified. Led by co-founder and CEO Michael Diamond, RAWFACE sells direct at rawfaceskin.com and through 50 retail locations in Canada and the United States, including major grocery chains.
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Company Name: RAWFACE Skin Ltd.
Website: https://rawfaceskin.com
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