- 12 hours ago
Simone Jordan, Cara Sabin and Esi Eggleston-Bracey talk to Jennifer Ford about Black Ownership.
Category
š ļø
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, my name is Jennifer Ford, Associate Beauty Editor at Essence. I have Shea Moisture's CEO,
00:11Kara Sabin. Hi, Kara. Hi. I also have Global Head of Community Commerce, Simone Jordan. Hi,
00:18Simone. Hi. As well as Executive Vice President and COO of Unilever North America Beauty and
00:27Personal Care, Acey Eagleson-Freecy. Hi, Acey. Hi. Hi, ladies. Thank you each for joining me today.
00:35I am on a panel right now full of Black Beauty bosses. It's such an honor. All right. And so,
00:44I'm glad that I had each of you here today to discuss the Black Beauty Revolution. We know that
00:50commerce and economic independence play a huge role in the Black Beauty Revolution that we're all
00:56seeing right now. So, I'd like to start with Acey. Acey, can you tell us about Unilever's acquisition
01:02of Sundial brands, which include popular brands like Shea Moisture, Nikeo Beauty, which is a Black
01:09woman-founded brand, Mattis' CJ Walker Beauty, and Harlem's own Nubian heritage? Sure. So, Unilever is a
01:19company that is very much committed to inclusion and economic equity. And as a part of that, we looked
01:26at our portfolio and said, how can we be a better service to Black women? And we admired and love the
01:35business of Shea Moisture and Sundial and its portfolio of brands. So, late 2017, Unilever partnered with
01:44Richelieu Dennis, the founder and creator of Sundial, to join up and become one team to bring Sundial into
01:51the Unilever family. And as a part of that, what we admired about Shea Moisture, and it was around that
01:57time I actually also joined the Unilever family. And the Shea Moisture business was one of the key
02:03reasons that I came and decided to join the Unilever business to run our beauty and personal care
02:08portfolio that Shea Moisture is just one of those. And the way the brand serves the community,
02:16it's certainly products that serve the community. But what I love about it, it goes beyond product
02:21and goes to how we impact the community in total through the shea butter that's created coming out
02:29of Ghana and Africa to participation in the New Voices Fund that invests in women of color entrepreneurs.
02:35So the whole brand and business ecosystem is like product and supply chain and investments to make
02:42sure we keep fueling the black community. I love that. And talking about investing in women of color,
02:48could you tell us about how the acquisition led to your actual parallel appointment as executive vice
02:54president and COO? Well, again, as I was saying, Jess, the idea of joining Unilever became much more
03:03attractive because of the business of Shea Moisture. And in fact, I felt like I had a great responsibility
03:10as the business joined Unilever to continue the mission that Richelieu Dennis founded and started
03:18to champion and even build and grow the Shea Moisture business's impact. And in fact, I mentioned
03:24something called the New Voices Fund. New Voices Fund is actually an unprecedented over $50 million fund
03:31that was created by Richelieu Dennis and Unilever to help serve women of color entrepreneurs that was
03:38created through the acquisition. The fuel for that investment came from the combination of the
03:44Shea Moisture business and then the investment from Unilever to help build that investment into our
03:50community. So you were asking, you know, how did my appointment come to be? It was really out of the
03:55commitment to see that nurture and thrive and grow. And, you know, I've worked in the beauty industry
04:02for like 20 years. I've worked in packaged goods for 30 years. And what I saw is the opportunity to
04:08bring my experience to bear in running the whole portfolio, but importantly, to contribute and grow
04:17the Shea Moisture and Sundial business even further. I love that. And now Cara, you're the CEO of Shea
04:24Moisture, which is also huge. And you've been working with beauty brands for a very long time.
04:29But how has this role in particular been more rewarding and at the same time challenging to lead?
04:37Well, yes, as you said, I've been in beauty for almost 20 years and have worked on a number of brands.
04:42What is most rewarding working on this business and working with AC and the rest of my team
04:49is I'm not pushing water uphill to fight for inclusivity. We know that notoriously in the beauty
04:58industry, many women of color, particularly black women have felt overlooked, which was part of the
05:04genesis of Sundial brands and Shea Moisture was that the Dennis family saw this opportunity to over
05:10serve this consumer with products and services. So what is most rewarding is I get to really serve
05:18this consumer and whether it be serving her with products or even the way that we work and the way
05:25that we do businesses, working with black founded agencies, working with black creatives, there's a
05:32freedom to really work in a way that I think is important. The challenge, the biggest challenge is
05:38really being someone that is at the helm, following an incredibly impactful founder. And so the great
05:47responsibility that I see in furthering the legacy is a challenge, but it's a welcome challenge.
05:56Awesome. If you don't mind, if I just may add, you know, Cara is incredible,
06:04and her leadership and vision of the business is amazing. And I want to just call out a couple things
06:12that Cara said. The Shea Moisture business and Sundial have always been black founded by Richa Lou Dennis.
06:20What you have now is something that is black female led. So you have Cara that brings her 20 plus years of
06:26experience in business and in beauty and her commitment to the black community into leading
06:33this business and her commitment to make sure the funding that goes into the brand contributes back
06:39into the community. And then you have Simone who's leading community commerce and community impact.
06:45So, you know, like even the title of this is like from black owned to black impact. What you have is this
06:52like beautiful Cara and Simone, like leading this brand to continue to be of service and an even more
06:59impactful way to the community that we're all in love with. I agree. And, you know, speaking of black
07:07owned businesses, there's been a huge movement to support and shop black owned businesses. Simone,
07:12why do you think that it's so important? And what is Shea Moisture doing to support, you know,
07:18that particular movement of shopping black owned? Yeah. So we, um, as AC just mentioned this
07:25supporting black owned businesses, it we've been doing it since, uh, the business was founded and
07:31it's really near and dear to us because we once was a black owned business and in now Unilever acquiring
07:39it, it maintains that legacy. It's allowing us to continue our commitment to black owned businesses. And
07:45what's really important to note here is that they've been on the front lines, um, even before.
07:51So now we're introducing the social justice coalition where we will still look at entrepreneurs
07:57and black owned businesses as those who are on the front line fighting for injustices. And, you know,
08:03we've all re always recognize this. So in any funding that we have put forth, whether it's been for
08:09women of color entrepreneurs, whether it's for small minority businesses, specifically when we launched it
08:14for COVID-19, we know that they're going out there and whether they are cash strapped, whether they
08:21are, you, they need to save their money for their own families, they're still putting it in their
08:25communities. So for us, black owned businesses are the core of our community. They are who are standing
08:30up, ensuring that, um, their communities are served that where we are disproportionately seeing numbers
08:37of black people affected by disease, by injustice, by food, lack of food, um, and nutrition. Our businesses
08:45are stepping up. So it's very important for us, for us to invest in black owned businesses at this time,
08:52specifically where, you know, if they're not invested in, they could go away permanently.
08:57I agree. And there was being a black owned businesses, there was some backlash on Twitter
09:04when people learned that Shea Moisture was no longer black owned. Now, Cara, you wrote a letter
09:10to address that, um, being, uh, entitled being black, being a black CEO in corporate America. Can you tell us,
09:16how did you make such a bold decision to write a very open letter?
09:20You know, it honestly, it wasn't really a decision. It was something that I viscerally
09:26felt that I needed to express, um, on behalf of, of the legacy of, of the Shea Moisture business and
09:33on behalf of my team and, and all of the work that they do for the community. Um, you know, this
09:40conversation is a nuanced conversation and anything in social media is difficult to have a, a nuanced
09:48discourse. Uh, but my perspective, and I know the perspective of the team is that this is not an
09:55either or discussion. Um, what, what we see is, is, is the North star is what is the impact? What is
10:02the impact that these businesses are making on the black community? And as, uh, AC and Simone already
10:10stated, uh, serving black female owned business owners has always been the mission of, of Shea
10:17Moisture pre acquisition and post acquisition. And through the acquisition, the new voices fund
10:24was, was, um, was a result of that. And that fund directly invest into black female owned business
10:31owners. And so, um, I felt it was important to just express another viewpoint to the conversation,
10:38which is that it's not an either, or it's an, and, and I think, um, it's really about expanding the
10:44pie. And if you're a black owned business, that doesn't mean that you can only serve a black
10:48consumer. Um, and so it's, to me, it's about, uh, everyone should be buying black, whether you're
10:55a black consumer or not. And, uh, we also need to have space for businesses like Shea Moisture that
11:01wants to continue to serve the black community and, and are doing work to fuel black owned businesses.
11:06Thank you, Kara. And speaking of, um, brands that support the black community, AC, you've worked and led
11:14initiatives like the crown act for Dove. Can you tell us about, um, tell us about that and how, uh,
11:21you're super serving the black women with the Unilever brands?
11:24Yeah. Um, when we say we stand for the black community and to be of service to, um, black men and
11:34women, we have to first look at what issues and barriers we have. And one of those barriers is
11:41unfortunately in most places in the country today, it's actually legal to say that we can't have
11:48employment because our hair is textured, meaning we might wear braids or locks. We can have a job
11:54offer and it would be rescinded if we wouldn't agree to change our hair. And it really is a shame when
12:00you see it in schools where kids come into school and their teacher sends them to the nurse in some
12:06cases or the principal office and say, you've got to change your braids or you're going to get
12:11expelled or you can't graduate. And so looking at that, like that is not being of service to black
12:17people saying who we inherently are is not welcome. So, um, one of the brands in the Unilever portfolio,
12:23Dove is really committed to beauty inclusivity, that our beauty should be celebrated and acknowledged.
12:28And this is a way that it isn't. And so, um, we, uh, connected with partners and created the
12:36crown coalition crown stands for creating a respectful, open world for natural hair.
12:41It's with the urban league color of change, Western center for law and poverty.
12:45And out of that champion with Senator Holly Mitchell, um, who stepped up to the challenge.
12:51You know, I went out and talked to, um, noble national organization of black elective officials
12:55about the opportunity. And Senator Mitchell said, this shouldn't be. And she carried the first,
13:01um, bill, the crown act. And almost a year ago, July 3rd, we had our first crown act in place.
13:09Um, so now, um, on, um, we have seven states that have passed legislation. We'd probably be much more
13:17if it weren't for COVID, which is some of the lockdown to municipalities and federal legislation.
13:22So we're really proud. I call that like systemic impact, but we're proud of the seven, but more
13:28we're committed to the next 43 and the federal legislation because today in 2020, really it's
13:36legal for you to say that we can't wear our braids. So we're admitted more than ever. And on June, um,
13:44teeth, we announced that we're expanding the crown coalition that in for natural hair will stand for
13:49end for no racism. So standing for additional social justice pillars, including re-imagining public
13:56safety, economic equity, um, um, ending voter suppression, in addition to some of the systemic
14:04barriers to racism, like laws that discriminate against our hair. I love that. And you know,
14:11that initiative, the crown act has been so impactful in banning the discrimination of natural hair,
14:15uh, across the country and continue the conversation around impact Cara as the CEO and of, um, you know,
14:23Unilever, and you also used to be a CEO of a once black owned beauty brand. How do you, you know,
14:29how do you believe that she most, how do you believe you you'll scale shade moisture's impact,
14:35um, to black consumers and black women? Yeah. And I wish I was the CEO of Unilever. I'm not that,
14:41not at that level again, just the CEO of shame wisher. I understood what you meant. Um, so yes, uh,
14:52scaling the impact is really what is, is of most importance to us. Um, and there are many programs
15:00that the team is leading, um, to that end. And we believe, um, one of the fundamental ways to scale
15:07the impact is to continue to fuel our community commerce model, which means that every purchase
15:13of shame moisture is an investment in black women. And so we take proceeds from each purchase
15:20and we put it into, um, the fund that are the, the, the resources that, that Simone manages
15:27and work with partners and programs. And, um, we're, we're really proud that the end of this year,
15:33we will be able to, to really show in a tangible way, the impact and the breadth and the depth
15:38of the impact that we have made through partnerships, like with We Buy Black, which is the largest online,
15:44um, platform for black owned businesses. We have a program with Dartmouth called
15:49Shea Moisture Fellows. And so we touched many women through that platform. Um, and so a lot of the
15:55initiatives, uh, that we want to fuel are fueled through that model. And we're hoping to broaden and
16:01deepen that impact. Thank you, Kara. And you mentioned, um, uh, the project that Simone has
16:09been working on and Simone, you bring a unique experience to the beauty industry coming from
16:13a civil rights organization to a multicultural hair brand. So can you tell us what that journey
16:18has been like and what type of foresight, uh, do you attribute to them bringing that level of
16:24expertise to your role? Yeah. Um, I think when I was sitting with the urban league, I actually was
16:30working with the urban league before coming to Shea Moisture. And if you were to ask me what my
16:35next job would be, it would not, I wouldn't have answered that it would have been with a beauty
16:39brand. Um, but being a consumer of Shea Moisture, it was an honor to get that call and be asked to
16:45come and support their community work and support their community and women in their platform. And so
16:51it's been a, it's been an amazing experience. Um, I think when you're outside of this industry,
16:57you don't really maybe see a place for yourself if you do have this nonprofit background. Um,
17:02but to understand that beauty brands are leading the purpose and that they're putting black consumers,
17:08black communities first, that was, it was a moment that I didn't think I would have an interview,
17:14um, at the time with, uh, Rich Lou. So it's been amazing. Um, and to now be able to bring,
17:21you know, the work that I do around fighting injustices, mobilizing communities, um, setting up
17:27investments to really support individuals in the black community so that they can create wealth
17:34and so that they can support their own communities. Um, I don't think anybody could have really
17:41anticipated that this is what I would be doing here. So it's been, it's been an honor. And what's
17:46interesting is, you know, I thought about my own career and I've always done, uh, things in beauty
17:52where like when I was younger, I worked as a shampoo assistant. And then when I moved to New York to work
17:57with the urban league, I was actually, um, I went to Aveda for night school. And if you asked me what
18:02I was going to do with my experience, then I still wouldn't have told you that it would have landed me at
18:06a beauty, uh, in the beauty industry. I didn't know what it was. So I think this is just, you know,
18:12proof of when your, your steps have been ordered, where you will be. And I think there was a need
18:16for me and there's a need for others, um, to come in and make change. And while then knowledge is there
18:23with our CEOs, with AC, with people who are there, I think that I do bring, um, a unique skill set that
18:31allows us to not, you know, when COVID happened, we responded right away. And that's because of my
18:38ability to say, okay, investments work right now. Um, you know, this is how we can differentiate.
18:43So I think when you bring that knowledge in house, whether it's through partners, whether it's through
18:47your board or through a dedicated position, um, of leadership, which I've been, I've had the honor,
18:52um, of feeling for Shea Moisture, I think you can see real change, um, real impact and impact is
18:58sustainable. Thanks Simone. And speaking of needing people to make real impact and real change,
19:05how did you feel about your CEO pulling up again, after already demonstrating the brand's
19:10majority black leadership for the pull up or shut up challenge? Uh, I think my reaction was as I was
19:17reading it, she got a yes. Like my fingers cause we are very like, she makes us so proud. And again,
19:27I don't have to code switch. Right. So whether I'm talking to her on zoom, whether I'm reading it on my,
19:32uh, iPhone, you know, seeing her reaction, I think what was amazing is that she had shown us this
19:39this vulnerability. She has, you know, shared with us her challenges, but for her to put it on a
19:46platform for everyone to read. And it was amazing. Um, you know, she pulled up again and that's what
19:54moisture. We may not just pull up once. We may pull up twice and we're going to pull up over and over
19:59again for our black community, for our consumers. Um, and for Kara, she pulled up for her team.
20:05And I think, you know, in the best way to say it, and I think she may have even put this in her
20:09actual note. She told them to put some respect on us.
20:16All I can say is, yeah, I read it. And I was like, yes, girl. Yes.
20:19I love that. And you definitely got a, yes. You believe her also pulled up demonstrating like many
20:29companies, the opportunity to become accountable in building a much more inclusive culture, um,
20:35in a workforce that fully reflects the diversity of our communities or the diversity of the communities,
20:40the brand serves. So can you speak to, um, the recommendations you would make
20:45or have made toward this effort? Yeah. Um, so a couple of things, Unilever in total,
20:53we certainly pulled up. And what I encourage all to do is pull up because you acknowledge
20:57we have work to do to make sure our total workforce is representative of the communities that we serve.
21:03Our leadership team in Unilever, I would say, we also highlighted and pull up, um, is reflective of
21:10America that we serve. There's myself, um, that reports to the local CEO running beauty and personal
21:17care. We've got our head of sales that reports, um, to the head of beauty and personal care. So
21:23there's two, uh, so that would be 20% of the leadership team is black. Um, and just, we also
21:30shared our corporate commitment to make sure at every level we have that level of representation. So the
21:35advice I will give is just be transparent about where you are and acknowledge we're all in this
21:40together at this time and then create the bold commitment and make sure you create the plan by
21:46understanding the issues. Like, why are we not where we'd like to be today? Be transparent and clear on
21:52the issues and then address those issues in service to the commitment or the vision of our intention of
21:59where we know that we want to be. I love that. And that actually concludes our panel discussion today.
22:05We've run out of time, but I want to thank you ladies so much just for the work that you do
22:09every day and pushing our communities forward. Uh, the work you do is super point, super important
22:16and so very much appreciated. So thank you all for the work that you do. And thank you all for joining
22:22me today. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye.
22:28Bye.
Comments