Wellness, Kindness, and The Need for Radically Inclusive Beauty

There's never been a better time to stop and think about how we can do better and be better as a people, as a society, and as collective members of this beautiful planet we inhabit together. Why? Because the need for social and environmental sustainability has never been more urgent, including members in the beauty community.

In school, we all learned about Charles Darwin and the "survival of the fittest" theory of evolution. Many entrepreneurs and companies ascribe to that basis of corporate natural selection, doing everything they can to prove their "fitness," striving to beat the competition and grow their bottom lines even at the expense of other people and the environment.

In the beauty industry, we've seen this play out. Be first to market! More-better-faster! Get them hooked! With every passing day, the glut of products and seductive measures to get consumers to buy more than they need has fueled our economy to the point of unwellness and planetary demise. Fortunately, a lot of us are waking up to the impact of these practices on social and economic unsustainability, and things are starting to change. The era of the supermodel is ancient history. Body positivity reigns. Black lives matter. Mindfulness is becoming good business. All these are very important, courageous changes that are moving us as a society in the right direction.

Not many people know that even Darwin himself discredited the "survival of the fittest" postulation, arguing more favorably for cooperation over competitiveness as the real means to long-term survival. Traits like altruism, empathy, and kindness have been empirically proven as fundamental for catalyzing sustainability and flourishment. Compassion and collaboration have been proven critical to overcome the selfish mindset that has long created inequality, injustice, and intolerance toward other humans and destructiveness toward our ecosystems.

The era of the supermodel is ancient history. Body positivity reigns. Black lives matter.

For that reason, I decided to found The Human Beauty Movement (The HBM). Recently certified as a B Corporation, The HBM is a mission-driven public benefit company whose purpose is to foster radical inclusion, compassion and wellness in the beauty industry and beyond.

Traits like altruism, empathy, and kindness have been empirically proven as fundamental for catalyzing sustainability and flourishment.

I'm making an urgent call for all companies and the C-suite to start thinking more seriously about the long-term impact of their intentions and decisions. Every company needs to start thinking of itself as a global wellness company. Every executive needs to start dismantling racism, sexism, ageism, classism, narcissism, and all other toxic "isms" that plague their company cultures, products, services, and communication practices. Every board member needs to step up in responsibility to prioritize healing over harming.