A little over twelve months ago, I sent a letter to you expressing anger for George Floyd’s murder, heartbreak for the Black community, and called out the important and sizable work that must be done to rigorously address the social injustice and deeply rooted racial inequality in our own circles and in our society. The work needed to be done in my own personal reflection and (un)learning as a white woman and business owner. And the work needed to be done at Shop Good, in order to operate and stand as an anti-racist brand and community ally to our Black neighbors and customers.
Over the past year, the Shop Good team has worked hard to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the institutional racism that taints the beauty industry and our society at large. With this focus on education and awareness, we set out to make changes to the way we work, operate, market, invest and communicate (both internally and externally).
I am committed to sharing the details of our ongoing work with you, in hopes that this 1) holds us accountable and 2) inspires us all to continue the ongoing action needed towards being actively anti-racist.
As I shared twelve months ago, I believe "the real transformational action will occur off our Instagram feeds. The work is in our consistency, our long term approach and our strategic, sustainable action."
There is still so much work to do.
Shop Good's focus and goal is resolute: to create a work environment and harness a community that is compassionate, welcoming, inclusive and actively anti-racist... with an unwavering commitment to making healthy living inclusive, accessible, and FUN for ALL.
Keep readingto learn exactly how we have worked towards this goal over the past 12 months.
ASSORTMENT
Aligning with our mission to make healthy living more accessible, we have onboarded new brands with lower retail price points, while never sacrificing quality.
We’ve extended our complexion and color assortment by offering available shade ranges in order to provide optimal color matches and effectively service our Black community and all people of color. Where shade range options felt incomplete or misrepresentative, we directly communicated with our brand partners to express concern and push for more inclusivity in their offerings.
We have grown our representation of Black owned brands on our shelves. Before onboarding these brands, we took the critical time to research, test and get to know the Black brand founders that pushed beyond the barriers working against them in a white-dominated industry. Many of their products now represent top sellers across our store. Our Black-owned brand representation grew from 2% in June of 2020 to 12% today, stocking 13 Black owned brands and immediate plans to grow.
To make supporting and shopping these brands easier for our customers, we’ve added a ‘Black Owned Brands’ tab on our online shop’s navigation.
INTERNAL COMPANY CULTURE
We are committed to making Shop Good an incredible place to work, learn and grow, and a place where Black employees and employees of minority descent feel welcome, valued and excited to join in on our mission.
In order to provide a safe and inclusive culture and promote anti-racism on our team and in our community, we’ve prioritized our internal conversation around social equity. Last summer, we formed our Social Action Committee which meets monthly to work to improve company culture, execute new social equity initiatives and continually evaluate the social impact of our brand.
Our company-wide, monthly ‘open forums’ provide space for all employees to voluntarily + openly share concerns or ideas relating to social equity.
Our bi-monthly internal newsletters support our team to stay informed on the important local + global policies + events and their social impact.
Our Shop Good Library houses an assortment of titles ranging from anti-racist teachings to indigenous perspectives on ecological consciousness. These books are able to be checked out by employees at any time.
And our dedicated Social Action slack channel is utilized by our team to share articles, podcasts and more, relating to the ongoing learning and un-learning of the current constructs of our society.
These all exist to encouraging open dialogue, harbor a safe space to share and resources for continued education and awareness.
TRAINING AND EDUCATION
As curators of beauty and skincare products, it is our honor and responsibility to appropriately support + service customers of all colors and skin types across all genders. We have integrated important employee trainings and ongoing education in order ensure our team is equipped to provide exemplary service to each individual that walks into our store. These trainings are also in place to facilitate an increase awareness of white privilege and the history of the systemic racism that exists in the beauty industry and country so that we may fully appreciate the journey of marginalized groups. Trainings we’ve provided for our team include:
Skin of Color (including appropriate consultation, common concerns, treatment and product recommendations for BIPOC skin.)
Color Matching for BIPOC skin
Gender Inclusivity Training
Equity and Whiteness at Work
Finally, during our internal brand trainings, we encourage each of our brands to infuse applicable education around colored skin and Black hair types, allowing us to better service and recommend products to our BIPOC customers.
CONTENT AND MARKETING
Our content team is committed to continue (and constantly work to improve) our brand's inclusive approach and voice, aiming to include, support and speak to all races and genders, ensuring our content is valuable and digestible for everyone.
We continue to pursue Black and diverse models in our brand shoots to ensure Black skin is represented in our content and marketing. We request that 50% of each month's models are Black or representative of a minority race or ethnicity.
Additionally, we have halted the retouching of models' skin in our professional photography with a goal to show real skin and work to eradicate the unrealistic expectations and stigmas of the beauty industry that say “good skin” equates to power. Rather, we hope to promote deep self love, without defining ourselves by the state of our skin.
Our monthly ‘Good Talks’ email series works to introduce and lift up traditionally marginalized individuals in wellness and beauty, amplifying their voices, their businesses and missions, providing a unique and oftentimes underrepresented point of view in the beauty and wellness sphere.
As in-person events return at Shop Good, we are committed to incorporating and showcase the Black point of view across health, wellness and beauty through seeking out Black event leaders and speakers.
SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES
A focus on sustainable operations and business practices supports the health and wellness of Black and marginalized communities around the world. As we assess Shop Good’s footprint, we've made adjustments to our suppliers, our in-shop offerings and partnerships in order to do our part in protecting Mother Earth and thus, lifting others up.
Last year, we transitioned to eco-friendly and more sustainable shipping supplies, divesting out of supplier partnerships we do not believe align with our company ethos. We reinvested our shipping and supply budget into recyclable and post-consumer waste materials with a company who is working to put less waste in our landfills.
We continue to promote our in-shop recycling program, The Clean Cut. Thanks to your participation, we've saved over 4k beauty + skincare bottles and jars from landfills to date.
We continue to assess each brand’s sustainability practices prior to bringing them onto our shelves and ensure they are making sustainable efforts across their packaging, ingredient sourcing, advocacy for human rights and more.
And I am excited to share our eco-friendly packaging option, launching very soon. This will give our customers the ability to opt-out of superfluous packing and marketing materials in their Shop Good shipments. Check it out the next time you order at Shop Good online!
We have lots more in the works here as we continue to work to improve the impact we make on our planet and on the health and wellness of underserved populations.
MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS
As a small business, we are so proud of the monetary contributions we have been able to make and hope to see this increase as we grow, too. Through our 'Round Up for Change' initiative, where we invite you to round up to the nearest dollar as you check out at Shop Good online, we’ve been able to support the national Loveland Therapy Foundation and the local San Diego We All We Got Mutual Aid, thanks to your generosity and support.
Paired with our 'Round Up For Change' effort, over the past twelve months we have donated almost $4,000 across the following organizations:
Dede McClure San Diego Bail Fund
Black Women’s Institute for Leadership Development
And this month, we'll invite you to help us donate to the ACLU and House of Resilience in honor of Juneteenth and Global Pride Weekend.
OPEN DOOR POLICY
I am so proud of the progress the Shop Good team has made over the past year. But we still have so much to do and your opinions and feedback truly matters to us as we work towards a more just, inclusive and compassionate world. We are always listening to what you have to say and we encourage feedback from you - including questions, concerns and what you would like to see more of or less of. Feel free to drop us a line at hello@shop-good.co and let us know your thoughts.
With gratitude,
Leah
