From ingredient sourcing to sustainable packaging, here’s how the industry’s forward thinkers are striving to tread more lightly as they produce the beauty products you see on the shelves.   RETHINK (INGREDIENTS)   The fine print on beauty labels tells us next to nothing about how responsibly sourced ingredients are. To muddy matters, calculating a product’s eco-footprint is far trickier than checking if the formula is all-natural or organic.   For starters, natural ingredients can still cause environmental havoc—take, for instance, palm oil and its derivatives. Widely used in beauty products, they can be found in everything from shampoo to lipstick. They are largely produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the destruction of rainforests to clear the way for palm oil plantations is rampant. “A lot of companies are coming in and bulldozing and forcing communities out,” says Lindsay Dahl, senior vice-president of social mission at Beautycounter. Although the brand initially wanted to eschew palm oil, it realized that palm derivatives are still the best choice for many of its products.   As cosmetics ingredients, palm oil derivatives are safe and non-toxic, explains Dahl. Plus, palm oil is the most efficient vegetable oil to grow, so switching to less efficient crops that demand more land could be more environmentally damaging. Beauty companies are therefore working to change how it’s produced: 100 per cent of L’Oréal Paris’s palm oil supply is certified by the non-profit authority Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and Beautycounter is currently pushing for all of its products to be RSPO-certified, too.   But sometimes there’s no way to harvest something in a sustainable way, so rethinking ingredients means taking to the science lab. A 2012 study by the ocean conservation non-profit BLOOM found that the cosmetics industry was the world’s biggest buyer of animal squalane, a moisturizer largely sourced from the livers of endangered sharks. So when Biossance got into the sustainable-skincare game, it opted to bioengineer 100 per cent plant-derived squalane—from renewable sugar cane—instead.   REVAMP (THROWAWAY PACKAGING)   Mixing non-recyclables with recyclables in the blue bin—something waste management experts have dubbed “wish-cycling”—can result in the whole batch getting trashed. Beauty products are extra-tricky: “If you look at a lipstick or a compact, it’s usually made from different kinds of material, and then there’s the size,” says Anthony Rossi, vice-president of global business development at Loop, a TerraCycle company. (Small-format items, generally anything less than eight centimetres by eight centimetres, often can’t be properly sorted.)   Plus, it’s not always obvious what can or can’t be recycled (a PET plastic shampoo bottle is OK but not the cap) and too often leftover goop hasn’t been rinsed off. “When something is contaminated with residual liquid, not only can you not recycle it but it ruins other recyclables,” says Calvin Lakhan, PhD, co-investigator for York University’s Waste Wiki project. A study done for Environment and Climate Change Canada reports that in Canada, we throw away 87 per cent of plastics.   But even if we only recycle what we should, the system is plagued by another problem: plummeting demand. “The big challenge with recycling today is that the cost of crude oil to make virgin plastics is so cheap,” says Rossi. “The incentive for companies to use recycled plastics is diminishing by the day.”   There’s no fast fix to throwaway packaging, but beauty companies of all stripes are making headway. Recently, Unilever switched to 100 per cent recycled-plastic bottles for all three of Dove’s ranges in North America and Europe in an effort to slash its use of virgin plastics. Last year, Beautycounter got rid of 800,000 unnecessary plastic parts—think inner lids and spatulas otherwise doomed to become landfill fodder.   Over at Burt’s Bees, prioritizing post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials has been a longtime goal, with some items now up to 80 per cent PCR content. Through its TerraCycle partnership, the brand also ensures that people have a free way to recycle items that can’t go in a blue bin, like lip balms and mascara.   In the haute-beauty space, Hermès’s answer to disposable consumer culture includes the new Rouge Hermès lipsticks, encased in colour-blocked lacquered, brushed and polished metal. Designed by Pierre Hardy, best known for his shoes and baubles, the plastic-free tubes are refillable keepsake objects—like all luxury items, they’re made to last.   REINVENT (THE SYSTEM)   “Reduce, reuse, recycle—it’s not just a catchy phrase,” says Lakhan. “It’s actually the order we’re supposed to do things, but we as consumers and policy planners neglect those first two steps.” Why jettison perfectly functional packaging, for example, when it could be refilled? That’s the question being posed by a growing number of manufacturers and retailers. In Vancouver, The Body Shop’s newly revamped CF Pacific Centre store has refill stations where you can buy your favourite shower gel in replenishable aluminum bottles.   Local indie shops focused on refillables are popping up across Canada, too. BYOC (bring your own container—anything clean will do) to Montreal’s Klova, Calgary’s Canary or Vancouver’s The Soap Dispensary & Kitchen Staples. Offering door-to-door service, Saponetti in Toronto will bring glass Mason jars with made-in-Canada soaps, shampoos and conditioners right to you and take away your empties for reuse.   Similarly, TerraCycle’s circular shopping platform, Loop, is a spin on the milkman delivery model, partnering with some major players in beauty, including P&G and Unilever. (Stateside, you can order Pantene, Love Beauty and Planet and Ren Clean Skincare—the same formulas you know but in containers designed to be refilled again and again.) Loop is slated to launch in the Greater Toronto Area this year with Loblaw; although it’s a pilot for now, it’s one more sign that reinventing our collective attitude to waste is not just urgent but doable.

Simple, beautiful, and sustainable, the new MyKirei by Kao personal care line is the embodiment of the Japanese company’s Kirei, or “beautiful,” Lifestyle Plan and the commitments it has set forth in the ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) plan to make everyday life more beautiful, make thoughtful choices for society, and make the world cleaner. That’s according to MyKirei Director of Marketing Marissa Vallillo, who adds, “MyKirei by Kao is built on the philosophy that caring for self, society, and the world makes life more beautiful. It includes plant-based, biodegradable, vegan-friendly personal care products in a revolutionary eco-friendly package.”   That package is the AIR Bottle, a flexible, yet rigid, “bottle” that comprises an inner flexible pouch surrounded by a transparent, air-filled outer flexible film pouch with an air tube that allows the bottle to stand upright. The inner pouch is Kao’s Raku-raku Eco Pack Refill, which was developed by Kao in 2018 to allow for easier refills (in conjunction with its Smart Holder) and to evacuate all product from the pouch through the use of a pump dispenser. In the AIR Bottle, the inner pouch is separated from the outer pouch so that as product is dispensed, the inner pouch collapses inward, dispensing up to three times more product than in more traditional packaging.   The first practical use of Kao’s in-house-engineered Air in Film Bottle technology, the 10.1-oz MyKirei by Kao package is made from a proprietary combination of materials from Fuji Seal that were selected for their various properties, such as water and gas barrier, and puncture resistance.   According to Ken Adams, Director of Packaging Development at Kao, the functional requirements for the package were solely based on sustainability and on Kao’s commitment to reducing its reliance on plastic. “Many brands on the market now offer recyclable packaging, but how many consumers actually go through the trouble to recycle it? Not many,” he says. “Ninety-one percent of plastic is not being recycled, and 80 percent of what is sitting in landfills should have been recycled, but it wasn’t. The AIR Bottle does the work for the consumer so they can feel confident that they are respecting the world as soon as they bring it into their home.”   By replacing the rigid plastic traditionally used in a pump bottle, Kao says that it is reducing the use of plastic by 50%. In addition, the bottle is advertised on-pack as being “100% Recyclable,” with an asterisk guiding consumers to the TerraCycle website. Explains Vallillo, “Consumers can download a prepaid shipping label from TerraCycle [linked through the Kao website] and ship used packaging to them. TerraCycle upcycles the materials and makes sure nothing goes to waste. In Japan, we heave a similar program with TerraCycle where they upcycle similar materials and turn them into children’s building blocks.”   Focus on simplicity extends to product   In the U.S., Kao is most well-known for brands such as Ban, Bioré, Curél, Jergens, and John Frieda, among others—all of which were acquired by Kao or brought to the U.S. from Japan. Given that the focal point of the new brand is Kao’s ESG strategy of Kirei and its “revolutionary” new Air in Film bottle technology, Kao chose to launch the products as a new brand under its own name, rather than part of a brand extension.   “By launching MyKirei by Kao, an ESG-specific brand, we now have a place to house some of these breakthrough innovations like the AIR bottle,” says Vallillo. “We also plan to integrate many of the ESG technologies into the other brands.”     The MyKirei by Kao line debuted in April, with the first phase offering three products: Nourishing Shampoo, Conditioner, and Hand Wash. With a focus on simplicity of choice, each formula is said to deliver the desired benefits across all hair and skin types. “The MyKirei lineup is not extensive,” says Vallillo, “it offers you great performance formulas without compromise. You don’t need to have 10 shampoos or conditioners in the shower. You only need MyKirei. We are providing you with technology and efficacy so you too can reduce waste in your home with excess products and packaging.”   The formulas also reflect the Kirei sensibility of simplicity, as well as other aspects such as beauty, cleanliness, simplicity, balance, and sustainability. They are vegan-friendly, plant-based, and up to 95% biodegradable. They also include balanced blends of traditional, authentic Japanese ingredients, like yuzu fruit, rice water, and Japanese Tsubaki flower.   The package design supports these messages, with the inner pouch direct-printed with a gradient of soft pink along with a stylized flower image that changes depending on the variety. The pump is white.   The products were introduced only in the U.S and only on Amazon, but Vallillo says Kao plans to expand into other retail channels in the future. The next launch in the MyKirei line is (at presstime) scheduled for July. According to Kao, it will be all about instilling a culture of cleanliness into the next generation, with a specific focus on hand-washing education.   “This is an incredibly relevant topic right now for obvious reasons, but Kao has been doing this with classes in schools for children for years. We are excited to bring this campaign to the USA through MyKirei by Kao,” shares Vallillo. “Every launch will have a new way to help the consumer live more Kirei, while telling a different story each time. What you see is just the start, and we plan to extend into other lifestyle categories and household categories that fit the MyKirei proposition.”  

Simple, beautiful, and sustainable, the new MyKirei by Kao personal care line is the embodiment of the Japanese company’s Kirei, or “beautiful,” Lifestyle Plan and the commitments it has set forth in the ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) plan to make everyday life more beautiful, make thoughtful choices for society, and make the world cleaner. That’s according to MyKirei Director of Marketing Marissa Vallillo, who adds, “MyKirei by Kao is built on the philosophy that caring for self, society, and the world makes life more beautiful. It includes plant-based, biodegradable, vegan-friendly personal care products in a revolutionary eco-friendly package.”   That package is the AIR Bottle, a flexible, yet rigid, “bottle” that comprises an inner flexible pouch surrounded by a transparent, air-filled outer flexible film pouch with an air tube that allows the bottle to stand upright. The inner pouch is Kao’s Raku-raku Eco Pack Refill, which was developed by Kao in 2018 to allow for easier refills (in conjunction with its Smart Holder) and to evacuate all product from the pouch through the use of a pump dispenser. In the AIR Bottle, the inner pouch is separated from the outer pouch so that as product is dispensed, the inner pouch collapses inward, dispensing up to three times more product than in more traditional packaging.   The first practical use of Kao’s in-house-engineered Air in Film Bottle technology, the 10.1-oz MyKirei by Kao package is made from a proprietary combination of materials from Fuji Seal that were selected for their various properties, such as water and gas barrier, and puncture resistance.   According to Ken Adams, Director of Packaging Development at Kao, the functional requirements for the package were solely based on sustainability and on Kao’s commitment to reducing its reliance on plastic. “Many brands on the market now offer recyclable packaging, but how many consumers actually go through the trouble to recycle it? Not many,” he says. “Ninety-one percent of plastic is not being recycled, and 80 percent of what is sitting in landfills should have been recycled, but it wasn’t. The AIR Bottle does the work for the consumer so they can feel confident that they are respecting the world as soon as they bring it into their home.”   By replacing the rigid plastic traditionally used in a pump bottle, Kao says that it is reducing the use of plastic by 50%. In addition, the bottle is advertised on-pack as being “100% Recyclable,” with an asterisk guiding consumers to the TerraCycle website. Explains Vallillo, “Consumers can download a prepaid shipping label from TerraCycle [linked through the Kao website] and ship used packaging to them. TerraCycle upcycles the materials and makes sure nothing goes to waste. In Japan, we heave a similar program with TerraCycle where they upcycle similar materials and turn them into children’s building blocks.”   Focus on simplicity extends to product   In the U.S., Kao is most well-known for brands such as Ban, Bioré, Curél, Jergens, and John Frieda, among others—all of which were acquired by Kao or brought to the U.S. from Japan. Given that the focal point of the new brand is Kao’s ESG strategy of Kirei and its “revolutionary” new Air in Film bottle technology, Kao chose to launch the products as a new brand under its own name, rather than part of a brand extension.   “By launching MyKirei by Kao, an ESG-specific brand, we now have a place to house some of these breakthrough innovations like the AIR bottle,” says Vallillo. “We also plan to integrate many of the ESG technologies into the other brands.”   The MyKirei by Kao line debuted in April, with the first phase offering three products: Nourishing Shampoo, Conditioner, and Hand Wash. With a focus on simplicity of choice, each formula is said to deliver the desired benefits across all hair and skin types. “The MyKirei lineup is not extensive,” says Vallillo, “it offers you great performance formulas without compromise. You don’t need to have 10 shampoos or conditioners in the shower. You only need MyKirei. We are providing you with technology and efficacy so you too can reduce waste in your home with excess products and packaging.”   The formulas also reflect the Kirei sensibility of simplicity, as well as other aspects such as beauty, cleanliness, simplicity, balance, and sustainability. They are vegan-friendly, plant-based, and up to 95% biodegradable. They also include balanced blends of traditional, authentic Japanese ingredients, like yuzu fruit, rice water, and Japanese Tsubaki flower.   The package design supports these messages, with the inner pouch direct-printed with a gradient of soft pink along with a stylized flower image that changes depending on the variety. The pump is white.   The products were introduced only in the U.S and only on Amazon, but Vallillo says Kao plans to expand into other retail channels in the future. The next launch in the MyKirei line is (at presstime) scheduled for July. According to Kao, it will be all about instilling a culture of cleanliness into the next generation, with a specific focus on hand-washing education.   “This is an incredibly relevant topic right now for obvious reasons, but Kao has been doing this with classes in schools for children for years. We are excited to bring this campaign to the USA through MyKirei by Kao,” shares Vallillo. “Every launch will have a new way to help the consumer live more Kirei, while telling a different story each time. What you see is just the start, and we plan to extend into other lifestyle categories and household categories that fit the MyKirei proposition.”  

Happy World Giraffe Day! Today we celebrate our favorite long-necked creatures. Here at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, we have five giraffes in our herd: adult females Tessa, Cece, and Zoey, and young males Fennessy and Theo. Fennessy (Fenn) had his first birthday this week, and Theo is 7 months old.   Because he was born the week of World Giraffe Day, Fennessy was actually named after Julien Fennessy, the founder of World Giraffe Day and avid giraffe conservationist. Fenn is now about 10 feet tall and weighs nearly 800 pounds! Giraffes are usually about 6 feet tall and 150 pounds when they are born, so Fenn has grown quite a bit in his first year! We love celebrating our giraffes and their own milestones! However, their wild counterparts are struggling with habitat loss and fragmentation, and giraffes are now listed as endangered. Thankfully, there are several things we can do to help protect giraffes and their habitat.   One easy thing we can do to help protect giraffes is recycle our old gift cards! Gift cards are made with petroleum, which is mined in Africa in giraffe habitat. By recycling our old gift cards instead of throwing them away, we reduce the amount of mining that needs to be done. Although we can't throw gift cards in our Rumpke recycling bin, we can take them to places like Best Buy for recycling, or we can use a TerraCycle service. Once giraffe feedings resume at the Zoo, we can give gift cards to the staff running the feeding for recycling as well.   We can also help giraffes by going on a behind the scenes giraffe tour at the Zoo. These tours allow us to meet the giraffes up close and personal, and a portion of the ticket sale goes to the Wild Nature Institute, a conservation organization working to protect giraffes and their habitat.

Design thinking requires a curious mind to observe and wonder then add in a global pandemic that we have not faced on a similar scale since 1918 feeds even more fuel to curiosity. At the start of my project, I wondered why the pandemic caused a chain reaction in corporations like Starbucks, Tim Hortons, and Bulk Barn to indefinitely suspend their refillable programs. These corporations are no longer accepting bring your own containers (BYOC) due to concerns of spreading COVID-19.   As the CDC updates its guideline with new research, we are understanding that the virus is mainly spread through “person to person” contact and you can possibly become infected from touching an object then touching your face, but it’s not the primary way the virus spreads (“How Coronavirus Spreads”, 2020). How can these corporations safely reinstate BYOC programs?  

Exploring the problem statement

  Before COVID-19, consumers and companies were reducing their reliance on single-use plastics. Many companies had incentivized customers to BYOC to coffee shops, banned plastic straws, and stores like Community Natural Foods and Bulk Barn offered BYOC programs. By consumers choosing to supply their own containers, it saves energy, reduces pollution and waste from the landfill meanwhile providing more local jobs for those refilling the containers (Miller, Hacket, & Wolfe, pg. 658). These programs offer many unseen benefits to the environment and local economies.   COVID-19 has caused a significant upheaval for the programs with uncertainty around how the virus transfers on different materials, who is responsible for sanitizing procedures, and what emotional considerations that should be met for consumers and employees to feel safe. To start the process, let’s learn more about the end-user of these BYOC programs.  

Empathize with the end-users

  To understand the root cause of a problem, you must determine the pain points end-users experience in the service delivery (Marks, 2018). The methods used to empathize with end-users included:   1.     Interviewed an acquaintance, Jessica Kuiken on June 6, 2020. I used the 5 Why’s exercise to drill down to the problem’s root cause. The interviewee was provided with three problem statements and worked through answering as seen in Mural’s worksheet below.     2. Research into the end-user to paint a picture of what the average end-user thinks and feels to create a user persona. Highlights from the end-user research as follows:  

• From Statistics Canada in 2015, I reviewed which gender is spending their time doing unpaid work activities in the household (includes meal prep, cleaning, laundry, recycling, etc.). Females complete on average 3.6 hours whereas males 2.4 hours of unpaid work activities (2015).
• BYOC programs are synonymous with the zero-waste movement to reduce residential waste. This movement largely lives online through Instagram, blogs, and podcasts. Anecdotal evidence supports that the movement was created and finds continued support by female engagement (Bird, 2019). The article’s author offers this insight, “In broad strokes, research shows women are traditionally more likely to recycle, change personal habits to help the environment and share ideas on a person-to-person level” (Bird, 2019). For generations, females are more likely to look after the household and use their decision-making power of what to purchase and where from.
• If females are the main end-user for BYOC programs, this article revealed the emotional burden females carry to align with their environmental values. In practicing a zero-waste lifestyle, females carry the responsibility to explain to others why they “…politely refusing straws from confused waiters, declining gifts from family members, and gently explaining their lifestyle in a nonjudgmental way to strangers” (Wicker, 2019). The end-user may carry an emotional burden as they are questioned and forced to explain their value system at many touchpoints throughout the day.
• The majority of preferred shopping has flipped to the online space especially during COVID-19. Many consumers “…have embraced ordering online for goods, services, and food during the COVID-19 pandemic and many likely won’t switch back to their old habits (Senneville, n.d.). The end-user has become more comfortable and confident with buying online and having the convenience of someone else pick it, and pack it.
• Companies flipped to using single-use packaging during COVID-19 because scientists were unsure how the virus spreads. As more research is published, health experts believe transfer happens mainly from person to person. But consumers have been led to the belief that single-use packaging is sterile therefore it’s safer to use. In an interview with Tom Szaky, the founder of TerraCycle explained that,

“Different kinds of disposable packaging have different microbial limits set by independent standard-setting organizations — and unless a product is explicitly marked sterile, none of those limits are zero. That means a certain level of bacterial contamination is considered acceptable and inevitable” (Anderson, 2020).   Part of the end-users persona may believe single-use packaging is inherently safer to use during a pandemic because it’s viewed as sterile. But Szaky’s point, single-use packaging will be likely contaminated at some point in the supply chain so the end-user perception of sterile must be swayed.  

End-user’s persona

  From the research, an end-user theoretical persona in Mural was built to synthesize and assist in identifying the problem statement.  

[Re]defining the problem

  To define the problem, let’s start with capturing the current environment and who needs to be involved to help our theoretical end-user, Janya.  

The current environment

  As we down a pandemic, other big and complex problems like climate change still loom and require our attention. Part of the efforts to slow down climate change has fallen onto the responsibility of the consumer, who is asked to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Single-use packaging like drink containers and food packaging contributes to the 668 kilograms of waste the average Canadian generates each year (“A beginner’s guide to zero-waste grocery stores | CBC Life”, 2019). Consumers and companies are taking action by minimizing their single-use packaging including the rise in zero-waste stores offering household items without packaging or in bulk. And they welcome consumers to BYOC.   Then COVID-19 pandemic hit globally and many companies took swift precautions, some self-imposed and others following local health authorities guidelines. The decision to stop BYOC programs are self-imposed precautions but have left some customers wondering why some companies will accept my cash payment but not my mug (Ackerman, 2020). COVID-19 has highlighted the contrast of companies’ health and safety risk tolerance for their employees and customers. As the virus becomes better understood, companies can begin to brainstorm how to adapt their BYOC programs with new sanitation procedures.     Who needs to be involved   Design thinking asks how to create feelings in the end-users with the products we design (Marks, 2018). In this context, the end-user needs to feel a level of certainty of cleanliness and comfortability. Much of the Covid-19 guidance is coming from our governments and health experts so their expertise is paramount.   Involvement from others includes companies (Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Bulk Barn, etc.), zero-waste community members, governmental body for regulation and inspection, front-line staff and managers, and PPE/sanitation suppliers.   The Problem Statement…   It’s time to define the problem. By using Mural’s Design Thinking Canvas and using the outlined steps in combination with Mural’s 5 Why’s and End-User Persona, the problem statement revealed itself.   Consumers are uncertain and fearful if BYOC programs will further spread Covid-19.   *A copy of the Design Thinking Canvas can be found at the end of the post.   How might we [re]define the problem   ‘How might we’ statements change your viewpoint of the problem and as Kris Hans reminds us, make the problem into an opportunity. With the identified problem above, a company’s approach to how might we…  

• How might we receive government subsidy support for safely operating these programs?
• How might we create a safe customer experience that turns into a repeated practice?
• How might we provide education on the best sanitation practices and PPE to our employees?
• How might we educate and communicate to our customers that builds trust in our program?
• How might we demonstrate our sanitation procedures so they are visible to our customers?
• How might we design with public health as a design priority?
• How might we have public health experts communicate support for BYOC?
• How might we create a pleasurable and welcoming yet sanitary and safe experience for the end-user?
• How might we address the barrier to access to the end-user?
• How might we provide clear communication of the behaviour we want from the end-user?

  I wonder how companies and consumer advocacy groups will address and redesign BYOC programs back to life as we adjust to our new normal.  

During COVID-19 restrictions, many households bought more cleaning and disposable products than before but as restrictions ease, it is becoming apparent excess waste is a problem.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Nicole Simpson of Amethyst Skincare.   Nicole Simpson is a highly motivated entrepreneur and accomplished beauty veteran in the aesthetics industry. As founder of Amethyst Skincare, she proves her innovation in the beauty space with the first skin care line entirely dedicated to healing & protecting the skin from environmental toxins and skin stressors, as well as a brand that is environmentally responsible and sustainable. As the former AVP of Global Education and Business Development at SkinCeuticals, L’Oreal, Nicole was an aggressive world traveler — spending lots of time in Europe, Asia and South America — and as such, she observed firsthand the imbalance of the world. When she traveled to places with heavy pollution, like Beijing, her skin would have adverse reactions to the pollution and toxins. When developing Amethyst Skincare, she committed to creating a skincare line with a purpose — to heal the skin from environmental stressors and lead the charge to moving the beauty industry to being more environmentally conscious. Amethyst maintains a relationship with TerraCycle to ensure all of their glass bottles are 100% recyclable, aloe is used instead of water in most products and the brand has a waterless production, in order to preserve natural resources when possible, and they are also committed to supporting 4Ocean (for every 5 Amethyst Skincare products sold, 1 lb. of plastic is pulled out of the ocean). Finally, the brand aims to be carbon neutral by the end of 2021.     Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit how you grew up?   I grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida, with 3 siblings, where the majority of our time was spent outside on the beach. Things like clean water and environment were a big part of our culture. It’s funny- when we were little, things were super pristine, but it was notable that as the planet got warmer, our beaches were affected. Red tide lasted longer. The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico (an area of water that doesn’t support life due to the bioaccumulation of toxins), started off small, and got bigger and bigger each year. It defined us. So of course, sustainable business is a natural direction for all of my projects to go in. Also, from a very young age, I was obsessed with reading the labels of shampoo bottles, skincare products, and almost anything I could get my hands on. Fortunately, my parents saw it and cultivated a STEM environment for me and my siblings to learn in. That sparked an undeniable space for biology and chemistry. Mixed with an equally strong passion for skincare, the rest is history.   You are currently leading a social impact organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?   I have been in the beauty industry for more than 16 years, and with that has come a lot of international travel and the opportunity to see the world through a different lens. I worked for a short while as a chemist after graduating from university, but I hated it. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to be in the skincare industry, so I followed my absolute passion and became an aesthetician. The rest is history! I was recruited by a major skincare company to teach skincare from a scientific perspective to other aestheticians, physicians, and nurses. From there I went on to become the AVP of Global Education and Business Development for SkinCeuticals/L’Oreal. I traveled to more than 37 countries, working with some of the most prominent physicians in the world to help them become successful with skincare in their practices.   It was during my travels that I started to see that in America, our reality is a bit different than the rest of the world. My time in China, India, and some European countries allowed me to see our future. The air is heavily polluted. The water is contaminated. There are places in the world where food doesn’t grow because the soil is too acidic from acid rain. The University of California Irvine published a study a few years ago that showed that all of the smog that blows over from China adds 5–8 extra days of smog to Southern California each year. While we are not alone, the beauty industry is a major contributor to this. I made the decision several years ago that when I would create my own skincare line, I would do it as a platform to have an impact on this situation. While we still don’t have all of the resources we need to be 100% sustainable, there are things we can do today to reduce our global impact on pollution, and improve sustainability, which I am committed to being a part of.   Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?   In addition to having an outdoor childhood, there was another remarkable moment when I was in Beijing in my hotel room trying to sleep, and I couldn’t. My body couldn’t stop sweating in an attempt to detox from all of the pollution. I have traveled to many places where the air pollution was severe, and I realized two things: the first was that the world needs help and is significantly impacted by the beauty industry, and the second is that our bodies aren’t meant to handle this level of exposure. If we don’t take action now, we are going to be too late.   Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?   People would always ask me when I would start my own skincare line. My response was always the same: “The world doesn’t need another skincare line”. There are so many of them! While I always knew I wanted to do it, I committed to myself that if I did, I would do it with a purpose. I created Amethyst Skincare to explore and innovate ways that the beauty industry overall can start to reduce our impact on the planet, as quickly as possible. Once I realized that the environment will get worse before it will get better, I knew that it was time and I had to start.   Many people don’t know the steps to take to start a new organization. But you did. What are some of the things or steps you took to get your project started?   First things first. I know this sounds cliché, but it’s true: fail to plan, plan to fail. Research matters. At the end of the day, if you want to be successful selling a consumer product, you have to understand the consumer, and create something that a consumer loves — even goes deeper than that. Sometimes, it is not always about the product. It becomes about the mission and purpose. If people can connect to your mission and purpose, they will be with you the entire way. While we knew what our purpose and mission were, we spent a lot of time talking to our target consumer to make sure that we would execute our vision the right way.   Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?   The most interesting thing was seeing the alignment that started to happen from very early on. Once we started putting the word out there that we were starting an amazing brand with an amazing purpose, the right people showed up at exactly the right time. It’s an amazing thing to watch something greater than yourself materialize right in front of your face. We have a multi-cultural team with representation around the world that allows us to really amplify the voice behind our mission.   Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?   Early on, I was traveling in Europe to meet with potential distribution partners. I addressed some of their team in a foreign language which I am comfortable speaking, but was not my first language. The words I used were common to speaking the same language in another region, and were harmless. However, in Europe, the translation was different and literally translated to be a reference to female private parts. I didn’t know what happened until half of the room had a face of shock, and the other half was laughing uncontrollably. Thankfully, someone graciously explained the difference — I was mortified! We got through it, but lesson learned.   None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?   I have been super lucky to have a lot of mentors who have helped me along the way, however there is one who stands out. There is a woman who has been incredibly impactful to me and has always offered her support and wisdom. Her name is Katherine Fung. I met her early on in my career at L’Oreal. It was my first business trip to Hong Kong. Not only did we become very good friends, she became a mentor for me. She is a woman of incredible patience and wisdom. I appreciate her because she always gives me the best advice and takes the time to coach me through where I am today. She knows the right questions to ask me at the right time to challenge me outside of where I am. It’s like she can see what I can’t, and always helps guide me in the right direction.   Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?   There are much more than three, but here we go: The first is that society can look deeper and make simple updates, such as get educated on their local recycling systems and learn that most things that get thrown in the recycle bin don’t actually get recycled. Learning how to be impactful with simple sustainability swaps will also help our mission. Finally, bringing more awareness to the circular economy would make the most impact for us.   How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?   It’s a medium-to-long term game. It is proven that companies that best manage their sustainability practices can reduce operational costs over time. Studying the circular economy becomes very important when it comes to boosting profitability while achieving sustainability goals. When it comes to the beauty industry, some of the challenge can be that it is expensive to get started when choosing the right packaging and focusing on how to formulate in an eco-friendly way. A few of our formulas are not just waterless, but also are made via waterless production. That is expensive in the beginning, but over time, those costs improve. Our industry is at an impasse, because we don’t have a lot of options available to us yet. A lot of success can be had through strategic partnerships. So, if your budget can only sustain plastic packaging, go for it, but do the work on the back end to empower the maximum chances to ensure it is recycled via TerraCycle or other recycling agencies. As a start-up company, it is usually never a good idea to have cash going out while sales are increasing, but being as environmentally friendly as possible was important to us. So we worked with financial experts to ensure our costing structure was appropriate so that we could support the causes that could accomplish what we aren’t yet able to do as an industry, such as taking plastics out of the ocean, or making sure they are completely recycled so that there is no chance any of our products or packaging ever go to landfill. I recommend planning up front so that the business can manage out the higher costs, but the P+L can be structured to see the cost savings for the long-term.   What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.  

• The world might hate you once you start your climb. Do it anyway. As I started becoming more visible, I was also exposed to more opinions. I wish I would have learned to tune out the noise much earlier.
• I came up in this very competitive industry assuming I couldn’t say no. I wish someone would have told me it is okay to stand my ground and say no. I said “yes” on far too many occasions that compromised my family time, quality of life, and even sometimes, my personal health.
• The work you do today in the beauty industry will absolutely impact the quality of life for the multitudes of women tomorrow. The beauty industry goes much deeper than what it seems on the surface. We create products that boost self-esteem, improve health, and quality of life.
• When women go together, they go further and stronger. I was not whole until I found my tribe of absolute superstar women that I could call at any time of day to speak to, learn from, bounce ideas, and have a compassionate voice of encouragement.
• Community over competition. Period. There is enough space here for everyone. We can create more impact on the things that matter when we go together. Strength in numbers.

  If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?   To start today. We are running out of time. There will be a time that comes when everyone realizes their individual impact on the world, but by then, it will be too late. There are so many small changes we can make today that really do add up. Stop using plastics wherever you can. Research how to recycle. Plant trees. Save water. Look up all of the simple sustainability swaps you can do in the home. There are so many, and they are simple to do. Start step by step to avoid getting overwhelmed, but then enjoy knowing that the small changes you make today can have a major impact later on.   Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?   “If there is a thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s to not be afraid of the responsibility that comes with caring for other people”. This will have a personal meaning to each person who reads it, but for me, it carries a lot of meaning. If we have no planet left, we have no life. All things beyond that will no longer matter.   Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)   Jamie Kern Lima. She is a fellow woman of faith who has overcome every single odd to be where she is today. She made major history when L’Oreal purchased her company. It was their largest acquisition ever. She also remained CEO for a duration of time, which is a bit outside of the norm post-acquisition. Having worked in L’Oreal, I truly understand the importance of her accomplishments. She inspires me to keep going when the challenges get a little crazy.   How can our readers follow you online? Instagram: @nicoleknowsskin @skinbyamethyst www.skinbyamethyst.com  

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for brands to grow e-comm and online brand-building capabilities, and BevNET and NOSH Virtually Live, held next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 23 and 24, feature a number of approaches for companies looking to either explore or refine their approach to online commerce channels.   Sessions designed to allow attendees to improve their e-comm game include:   A presentation titled Best Practices for Building a Digital Brand Platform and eCommerce Business that will bring together brand and company leaders from Recess, Multiply, Haus, Sharma Brands and Shopify in a discussion of ways to build and allocate an online toolkit.   Main stage session Buyers, Believers and Adapting Consumer Education, presented by David Lemley of Retail Voodoo, which will show off key ways for brands to develop and maintain their presence in consumers’ lives online. Branding firm Black Bamboo will also delve into both the characteristics that brands must strive to demonstrate as part of their online personas and the capacities they need to demonstrate in terms of product fulfillment in the next two years during Eric Zeitoun’s own main stage session.   All marketing formats will be subject to review as part of recent social and political upheavals will be discussed during a Marketing in the Age of COVID-19, bringing together an experienced panel of sharp marketing minds including 4th & Heart’s Raquel Tavares, Koia’s Maya French and Foodstirs’ Greg Fleishman. Additionally, Liquid Death’s unconventional marketing approaches have largely spread through online channels — and CEO Mike Cessario will reveal some of the innovative brand’s niche marketing secrets in a discussion with BevNET’s Brad Avery.   Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, CEOs from Ohi, TerraCycle and Otter Products will explore changes in e-comm delivery through innovations in packaging, sustainability and last-mile delivery during a breakout panel discussion.   At a time when disruption has meant accelerated evolution, brands either have to either develop and master their capabilities online, or get out of business altogether; BevNET & NOSH Virtually Live attendees will find themselves better equipped for the former, while avoiding the latter outcome.   Virtually Live registration is complimentary for BevNET and NOSH subscribers. So sign up now for our outstanding news and information platform and take the plunge into our two-day, 40-session Virtually Live event.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for brands to grow e-comm and online brand-building capabilities, and BevNET and NOSH Virtually Live, held next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 23 and 24, feature a number of approaches for companies looking to either explore or refine their approach to online commerce channels.   Sessions designed to allow attendees to improve their e-comm game include:   A presentation titled Best Practices for Building a Digital Brand Platform and eCommerce Business that will bring together brand and company leaders from Recess, Multiply, Haus, Sharma Brands and Shopify in a discussion of ways to build and allocate an online toolkit.   Main stage session Buyers, Believers and Adapting Consumer Education, presented by David Lemley of Retail Voodoo, which will show off key ways for brands to develop and maintain their presence in consumers’ lives online. Branding firm Black Bamboo will also delve into both the characteristics that brands must strive to demonstrate as part of their online personas and the capacities they need to demonstrate in terms of product fulfillment in the next two years during Eric Zeitoun’s own main stage session.   All marketing formats will be subject to review as part of recent social and political upheavals will be discussed during a Marketing in the Age of COVID-19, bringing together an experienced panel of sharp marketing minds including 4th & Heart’s Raquel Tavares, Koia’s Maya French and Foodstirs’ Greg Fleishman. Additionally, Liquid Death’s unconventional marketing approaches have largely spread through online channels — and CEO Mike Cessario will reveal some of the innovative brand’s niche marketing secrets in a discussion with BevNET’s Brad Avery.   Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, CEOs from Ohi, TerraCycle and Otter Products will explore changes in e-comm delivery through innovations in packaging, sustainability and last-mile delivery during a breakout panel discussion.   At a time when disruption has meant accelerated evolution, brands either have to either develop and master their capabilities online, or get out of business altogether; BevNET & NOSH Virtually Live attendees will find themselves better equipped for the former, while avoiding the latter outcome.   Virtually Live registration is complimentary for BevNET and NOSH subscribers. So sign up now for our outstanding news and information platform and take the plunge into our two-day, 40-session Virtually Live event.

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