/Social Action at Shop Good
A Recap of Our Progress
by our Founder, Leah.
As Founder of Shop Good, I have made the commitment to annually update our community on the progress we have made to become a more equitable, inclusive and anti-racist brand.
While my fervor for inclusivity continues to be fanned by the seemingly never-ending wave of difficult times our country is enduring; from George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement, to the rise in Asian Violence, countless challenges to LGBTQIA2s+ rights, increased gun violence, the seemingly imminent overturn of Roe v Wade… and the strain we are placing on Mother Earth, my passion for providing an inclusive, safe and accepting space truly began at the conception of Shop Good.
I built Shop Good with the deep-set intention to provide a welcoming experience for all to feel included and important, while leaving my community, and the beauty industry, in a better place than before we opened. And now, the ability to utilize our growing platform to spread awareness and consciously work to eradicate the existing social injustices and inequalities that exist (and have existed for ages), my responsibility to continue delivering on my commitments (and my hope to inspire others to do the same) is great.
But, I believe that our success in this work is only defined by our consistency.
And while the work is never done, I am proud of the Shop Good team’s progress and sustained focus on Social Action over these past 12 months. Our consistency can be seen in:
- Our ongoing prioritization of internal education on how to service customers of all colors and skin types, across all genders.
- Our priority filters we use when selecting brands to sell on our shelves, always seeking out and prioritizing minority-owned and BIPOC-owned brands.
- Our increasingly diverse imagery and inclusive language used when marketing our special products.
- Our efforts to provide more awareness of current events, and providing action steps and resources to make our voices heard.
- Our monetary donations we have made to aligned local and national organizations, causes and mutual aids.
And it can be seen in our administrative work, continually working to improve the way we operate, market, hire, invest and communicate to our community.
Shop Good’s goal continues to be resolute: to create a work environment and harness a community that is compassionate, welcoming and inclusive with an unwavering commitment to making healthy living inclusive, accessible, and FUN for ALL.
I am so grateful you are here, joining us in Shop Good’s mission and our belief that, collectively, we can not only inspire and create change, but in turn, inspire our best and healthiest selves.
Read on to learn the details of our ongoing work towards this goal.
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ASSORTMENT
Aligning with our mission to make healthy living more accessible, we prioritize onboarding new brands offering a range of accessible price points, while never sacrificing quality.
Our complexion and color assortment offers all available shade ranges in order to provide optimal color matches and effectively service our Black community and all people of color. If ever a shade range feels incomplete or misrepresentative, we directly communicate with our brand partners to express concern and push for more inclusivity in their offerings, or will flat out not offer the brand in our stores.
We continue to prioritize the growing our representation of BIPOC on our shelves. Before onboarding these brands, we take critical time to research, test and get to know each founder that pushed beyond the barriers working against them in their white-dominated industry, as well as ensure it fills a void in our assortment, further ensuring a successful business relationship for both parties. Our BIPOC representation grew from 2% in June of 2020 to 13% in June of 2022.
To make supporting and shopping these brands easier for our customers, we’ve added a ‘BIPOC-Owned Brands’ tab on our online shop’s navigation.
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INTERNAL COMPANY CULTURE
We are committed to making Shop Good an incredible place to work, learn and grow and a place where a diverse group of individuals feel welcome, valued and excited to join in on our mission.
In order to provide a culture that prioritizes inclusivity, diversity and anti-racism, we prioritize internal conversations around social equity. Our Social Action Committee meets monthly in order to improve company culture, execute new social equity initiatives, align on local and national organizations to support, and to continually evaluate the social impact of our brand.
We encourage holding 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 encourage open dialogue, harbor a safe space to share and resources for continued education and awareness.
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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 integrate critical employee trainings and ongoing education in order ensure our team is equipped to provide exceptional 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, 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
Additionally, during all internal brand trainings, we encourage each of our brands to infuse applicable education around colored skin and all hair types, allowing us to better service and recommend products to our BIPOC customers.
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CONTENT AND MARKETING
Our marketing team is committed to continue, and constantly work to improve, our brand’s inclusive approach, voice and collection of imagery in order to support and speak to all races and genders.
We pursue diverse models in our brand shoots to ensure all skin tones are represented in our marketing.
In 2020, we halted on 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 showcasing diverse points of view across health, wellness and beauty through seeking out minority and under-represented speakers and event leaders.
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SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES
A focus on sustainable operations and business practices supports the health and wellness of all 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 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 are proud of our in-shop recycling program, The Clean Cut. Thanks to your participation, we’ve saved over 16.8k beauty + skincare bottles and jars from landfills to date.
We 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.
We have transitioned 65% of all in-store makeup tester applicators from plastic to bamboo and compostable materials.
Our eco-friendly packaging option gives our online 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 are constantly evaluating how we can improve and lessen the impact we make on our planet and on the health and wellness of underserved populations.
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MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS
As a small business, we are proud of the monetary contributions we made – and we hope to see increase as we grow, too. Through our ‘Round Up for Change’ initiative, we invite you to round up to the nearest dollar as you check out at Shop Good online. 100% of these donations go directly to support a number of San Diego-based and national organizations, (most recently Herbal Mutual Aid Network),
Paired with our ‘Round Up For Change’ effort, and thanks to your generosity and support, we have donated over $6,700 across the following organizations over the past twelve months :
Dede McClure San Diego Bail Fund
Black Women’s Institute for Leadership Development
San Diego LGBTQ+ Latinx Coalition
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OPEN DOOR POLICY
At Shop Good, we want everyone who walks in our stores to feel celebrated and represented. In order to continue our work, 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.
