EP97. How indie beauty is driving gender equality

If there's one message I've heard loud and clear from our student and graduate community at Formula Botanica over the years, it's that the skills of formulation have changed their lives. We are told repeatedly time after time that our graduates found starting their own indie beauty brand life changing. Life changing because they had the opportunity to create something bigger than themselves in the world and make a difference. Life changing because they change their customers lives. I hear this from every graduate I speak to. Life changing because they could quit their job or be at home with their family, or simply take control of a situation that they felt they had no control over. And at the heart of all of this sits the fact that starting your own business as a woman can be life changing because it can give you greater equality. I've personally found this too. I no longer have to report to someone else who overlooks me or underestimates me. I can work a full day, but also take time out to collect my kids from school, which I do every day. I can set my own hours, although admittedly they're often significantly longer than I used to work in my 9 to 5. But the point is that I am now in control and that has given me a seat at the table. It's also helped me give other women a seat at the table and that's what we're exploring in today's podcast. There's a reason that so many women see an opportunity in indie beauty and want to grasp it with both hands. Here at Formula Botanica, we change people's lives by teaching them how to formulate or how to start indie beauty brands. And in doing so, we lift up woman after woman across the globe by helping them to also get a seat at the table. We've taught in 182 countries at time of recording, so we know that this is a global phenomenon. The stories we're hearing are incredible and humbling. And we know the impact indie beauty has on our graduates lives. Which is also why we knew we had to record this podcast in time for International Women's Day 2022 to help break the bias. So settle in, hang up that do not disturb sign and join us as we discuss how indie beauty can support the drive to gender equality. Welcome to Green Beauty Conversations, the podcast that challenges you to think about how you buy, use, make and sell your natural beauty formulations. We tackle topics that will make you think and encourage debate about green beauty with your friends, followers or customers. I'm your host, Lorraine Dallmeyer. I'm a chartered environmentalist, biologist and the CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school, Formula Botanica. We have thousands and thousands of students in over 180 countries around the world who study with us to become organic beauty formulators and entrepreneurs. Visit our website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. So, in today's episode, I'm joined by Anna Green, Education Manager at Formula Botanica. Anna has worked in green beauty for over a decade and I greatly respect and benefit from her input and opinions. Which is why I always love welcoming Anna back onto the Green Beauty Conversations podcast. Welcome back to the podcast, Anna. It's always lovely to see you again.

Thank you for having me, Lorraine. I do love taking part in these conversations.

Well, this is going to be a brilliant one. I am so excited about this podcast and I spent all weekend thinking about it and I can't wait to dig into this topic because I know how important it is. So I'm really pleased we're addressing it. And I wanted to ask you a question to start off, which is, what is the current gender split in the beauty industry?

Yeah, well, it's a really interesting question. When we're talking about the beauty industry, we're actually talking about lots of different parts of the industry, really, which we could probably separate out and talk about individual gender gender splits because they will be slightly different. But if you're thinking about the beauty industry as a whole, you know, you're talking about lots of different sectors such as the spa and the treatment sector, which are really, really heavily female led. And then you've got aesthetics and sort of aesthetics treatments. You can split it into nails, you can split it into hair, which does have more men in the industry than other areas of the beauty industry. And then you've got the product side of the business. So you' got beauty brands, but you've also got ingredient suppliers and manufacturers. So when you're talking about the beauty industry as a whole, we know it is a very heavily female industry compared to many other industries, but there also may be people in the industry who don't necessarily identify with the traditional gender binary, although I couldn't really find any data on that. So we don't really know what percentage of people that might represent at the moment. But as I've said, it's already a, it's a very heavily female industry and it's heavily female led. And you have women in the indie beauty sector starting their own brands or working for already established brands. It was very interesting to see during the coronavirus pandemic, the Beauty industry was initially overlooked by UK government in terms of receiving support compared to many other male dominated industries. And, you know, the beauty industry had to lobby quite heavily to get the recognition for the workers in the industry and to really sort of get that support from government. There were several campaigns, including the Save Our Salons campaign, for example, that was going on during that time. So it's interesting to think about not only the gender split in the workforce, but also in terms of how products are marketed, because the majority of products in personal care have been traditionally marketed towards women. But when you look at the number of women in leadership roles, which tends to be where the stats are focused, actually you can find quite a lot of data around women in leadership roles. It's more difficult to find the gender splits elsewhere in the industry. There was a 2016 survey that said that just under 30% of leadership roles in the beauty industry were filled by women, which seems disproportionately low given the number of women in the workforce in the industry. Because we know, as I've already said, that big parts of this industry are very, very heavily female. So the industry is shifting slightly over the last couple of years with more gender neutral marketing. And it's. So it's not so heavily marketed still towards women, but ultimately it's still a very female dominated space, both in terms of the marketing, et cetera. So that 30% stat shocked me and I think it probably will have shocked you as well a little bit. It seems very low and I'd be interested to see. I couldn't find any more recent data, but it'd be interesting to see if that has shifted in the last few years. I suspect it probably has risen, but how much I don't know.

Yeah, it's absolutely fascinating. And when you consider that the beauty industry globally is a half a trillion dollar industry, you realize just how many people it employs. And exactly. As you said, it predominantly at the moment targets women, although that is starting to shift as they see that obviously there is a whole further, further demographics out there that they could target. But yes, it is quite shocking to hear actually that it's only 30%.

Yeah, it really is. Lorraine, can you give us a rundown of the history of female entrepreneurship in the beauty industry?

Yes. So I love this topic and I think it's really important for us to realize where we've come from when we look at where we want to go. And obviously that's how we're framing this podcast today as well. So I absolutely love researching the history of the beauty industry, and I very much enjoyed researching it for this podcast as well. So female entrepreneurship in beauty started a long time before the indie beauty brands of today. And now, obviously, women have been formulating their own cosmetics for millennia. But when it comes to widespread female beauty entrepreneurship, that story seems to start a little bit later with the really the proliferation of formulations for the African American hair in particular. So two women, Annie Turnbo Malone and Madam C.J. walker, started hair care businesses in the late 1800s. I'm sure you've heard of their names before. And they built empires that were considerably larger than for instance, L' Oreal was at the time. Now, Madam C.J. walker's story is so inspiring that Netflix even made an entire series about her called Self Made. And if you haven't seen it, please do go and watch it now. The key, of course, and I love this part, is that female beauty entrepreneurs could create formulations to sell in their kitchens. And that gave them an incredible opportunity to start a business from their homes. But those two incredible women weren't alone by a long shot. I mean, other examples of incredible female entrepreneurs in beauty at the time include Harriet Hubbard Ayer, who started a brand called Rasamier Toilet preparations in the USA in 1886, and she sold over $1 million of face creams per year. Now she was also one of the first to use celebrity endorsements to make sales, showing yet again that things really haven't changed that much in 150 years. And another frequently overlooked pioneer in female beauty entrepreneurship was an Irish chemist called Frances Denny, who opened a beauty salon in the US again in 1897, where she sold her own skincare regimen, which she called and I love this name, Cleanse, Freshen and lubricate. So in 1910, she opened the first beauty salon in an American department store. And then of course, we come to the pioneers who are really well known in the beauty industry because their names live on today. From the early to mid-1900s, we've got Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubenstein, Estee Lauder, who are all incredible inspirational female beauty entrepreneurs and who started as the indie founders of today. But what I really want to highlight is that particularly the early female beauty entrepreneurs must have had a really challenging time. Consider that women were only just allowed to own land and property by the mid to late 1800s. Women didn't even have the vote at the time that these incredible entrepreneurs were starting their businesses. And while female entrepreneurship has of course been in existence since the dawn of time, as women took on various income generating tasks through Self employment, such as needlework or cooking or childcare. It's really important to note that women were constrained in their business choices by the requirements of propriety, which sounds crazy nowadays really, and the domestic demands of their household and the need to present their businesses as a pursuit of independence and self sufficiency rather than the pursuit of profit. And I read one article by a scholar who reviewed the history of female entrepreneurship and she summarized it very succinctly when she said the very concept of success in business was gendered. So these women I've just mentioned, not only did they build incredible businesses, truly huge empires, but they did so in a time very different to the one we now live in. Now I can start five companies tomorrow and no one will bat an eyelid. But that wasn't the case 100 to 150 years ago. And for that and the fact that they then went on to build these life changing companies, I think we really need to admire these women.

What incredible stories. And like you say, the social and historical context to the, you know, the time they were living in and the challenges that they will have had to overcome to make these businesses successful. I mean, a million face creams that just sort of, you know, that is incredible.

Absolutely. And that particular example, Harriet Hubbard Ayer, I read her story online as I was researching this podcast and actually, I mean, her ex husband conspired against her. He had her committed to an asylum. He stole her business off her. I mean, it must have been incredibly hard in those days to run a business like that as a woman. And she, she emerged from that whole awful episode and came out of it well, but it must have been an incredibly hard time. So we've gone a little bit through the history of female beauty entrepreneurship and I'd love to look at contemporary female entrepreneurship in beauty too. I mean, there are so standout stories. Can you highlight some of the best known ones that, that, you know, Anna?

Yeah, there's some amazing female founded brands out there at the moment that are sort of all making waves in, in, you know, in their own unique way. I think one of the ones that really has had a lot of impact over the last five years is Fenty Beauty, which was founded by Rihanna. I mean, Rihanna is an example of somebody who is already quite successful, but her brand particularly resonated with many people. Inclusive messaging and the fact that the brand is all about beauty for everybody with 50 foundation shades and really sort of making all of their marketing about a very diverse group of people, including everybody, without using the term inclusive at All I was reading an interview with their director of marketing and saying that they're not talking about inclusivity, they are just walking the walk essentially with it. So it's definitely a brand that has been very influential over the last sort of five years. When you think about indie beauty, Tiffany Masterson of Drunk Elephant, I mean, she saw phenomenal success with her brand based around the concept of clean beauty, which can be controversial in the beauty industry depending on who you're speaking to. However, what you can't deny is that Masterson has, you know, achieved an incredible amount in terms of growing an indie brand to a household name. You know, it's very, very impress in a very short space of time. A couple of founders that I wanted to highlight, particularly in the green beauty sector, are Sarah Brown from pie, who I know you interviewed Lorraine on the podcast. And having been a PIE customer for many years, Pie has a sort of a special place in my heart particularly. And what I love about Sarah is that she's grown a certified organic brand again to a global business. So it started off very small in her home and she's grown it to something that is just incredible and is featured on all kind of the big websites. It is big in the US as well as in Europe and elsewhere. So it's a lovely, lovely story of what you can do with the business and sort of the last mention I want to give is for Antonia Burrell. And Antonia has been to speak at one of our conferences and her story is. It's just a wonderful story. The way she tells her story is incredible. But she's been an industry pioneer for many years and she, you know, she had a business before she launched her beauty brand, which was delivering treatments and as a. Running a successful therapy business. And then she had her, her brand that she launched and is still very successful. Now, her story includes many of the highs and the lows of navigating business and about maintaining success and about things going wrong, but perseverance and triumph at the end, you know, it really is one of those stories that I've heard it many times and it doesn't matter how often I hear it, it always never fails to impress me.

Absolutely agreed. All of those entrepreneurs are incredible and we've both had the privilege of meeting some of them. And what's so interesting as well is how humble they are with it. I don't think they realize the impact and the reach they've had with their brands. So it is always wonderful to speak to them and to, to see what they've achieved. But as Sarah said on the podcast when I interviewed her towards the end of last year, you know, she said, I feel like we're only just beginning, which is incredible.

Really, absolutely fantastic. Lorraine, are all women given equal opportunities in the indie beauty sector?

So this is a really interesting question because there is very little data available, I will say that. But what data there was didn't paint a pretty picture. So first of all, I started to look at funding and support mechanisms in particular, because that's really where the majority of the support comes for indie beauty founders. Before I even go into beauty, I think it's really important to highlight that there is an enormous gap in venture capital funding for women, period, regardless of which sector they work in. So I found some shocking statistics that I want to share that really bring this statement into focus. So I looked at two countries in particular, the UK and the US. And in the UK, for every one pound of venture capital investment, all male founder teams receive 89 pence, mixed gender founder teams receive 10 pence. And then we can all do the math to realize that that leaves 1 pence for all female founder teams. So 1% of all venture capital investment in the UK goes to women. And that is appallingly shocking. So then I looked at the us, hoping to see something better, but that same gender gap obviously applies there too. So in 2019, 2.8% of funding went to women led startups, but this actually dropped in 2020 to 2.3%. So while the US is obviously marginally better than the UK, it's still just appalling. And I really hope that there are some listeners today who work in venture capital and I hope they're feeling pretty ashamed of themselves right now, because honestly, you should be. This is absolutely terrible. Now, although that's only two countries, I'm sure our listeners will be able to find plentiful examples of this happening all around the world. And because of that, I think we've established funding is not necessarily fairly distributed to female entrepreneurs. But then we can take that even further and look at how women of color are disproportionately affected. So in 2021, Black female startup founders received just 0.34%, 0.34% of the total venture capital spent in the US, although apparently that number is a five year high, would you believe, and it is thankfully slightly on the rise. But let's be fair, it's still nowhere near good enough. Now, I will caveat all of this, as I said at the beginning, by saying that this data covers all Sectors, not specifically beauty. And women do tend to start up more businesses in the beauty sector. So I found a 2018 survey in the US that found that over 30% of women starting businesses did so in what they categorized as professional services, which will of course capture a significant number of beauty related companies. And in the UK 2021 analysis of that same category, classified as other service activities, showed that over 66% of all self employed people in that category were female. So although beauty isn't listed generally as a specific category, when it comes to looking at the types of sectors women start a business in, it is certainly likely that a large percentage of businesses started by women are in the beauty sector. And while it's possible that due to the larger numbers of women running businesses in this sector, a slightly higher percentage of investment funding might go their way, I am still going to be fairly comfortable to make a confident guess that that percentage will still be woefully inadequate. So then finally, aside from funding, as that's not the only way obviously that we can support indie beauty, female beauty entrepreneurs are obviously also in need of support in the form of mentorship, incubators, accelerators. And I will say that I've seen a significant rise in the amount of support offered to female beauty entrepreneurs in the last few years, which is undoubtedly as a result of the massive rise and success in indie beauty. And that's really great to see. I'm also seeing more funds dedicated specifically to women and specifically women in minority groups. Again, another fantastic step in the right direction. However, it is of course important to note that these funds are of course still only in the minority. So I think the general conclusion is it's sort of starting to come, but that we as an industry have a really, really long way to go when it comes to supporting all women across beauty.

Yeah, really incredible stats there, Lorraine. When you think about the very small percentage of capital that is allocated to women, that is quite shocking. And I don't think I knew that there was going to be a discrepancy, but I don't think I'd ever heard that statistic before. So yeah, really makes you think about how far we still have to go. Really?

Absolutely. And I hope more data will start to come out of the sector as well as we analyze it and start to understand exactly what the impact is. Now you touched on this a little bit earlier already. What would you say are the differences globally and the role of women in the beauty industry?

Well, I wanted to talk a little bit about women's role in the supply chain, because I think it's very easy, as we've already seen, it's really important, but it's very easy just to focus on the entrepreneurship aspect of this. And there's a whole other area where women are involved. So, for example, when we're talking about ingredients, there's women's role in the supply chain. And women in the global south, for example, are really, really involved in the harvesting and processing of ingredients. And a lot of the most commonly used natural ingredients for beauty products are grown in places like South America, Africa, or Indonesia. And I've always found it very interesting, actually, that many of the trends we see in the industry actually stem from women's beauty rituals from around the world. So if we take the example of shea butter, it has been used by women for thousands of years to take care of their skin. And women are also really heavily involved in the shea butter industry. It provides business, but also social opportunities. And women are involved in every step of the process, from the harvest and sorting of the nuts to trading them. Without the valuable role that these women carry out, I think it is safe to say that the beauty industry simply would not exist. This is the same for many natural ingredients. Actually. Men tend to really only become involved at specific points, often if there's tools involved or if bigger manufacturing processes. But a lot of the very intricate manual work is still done by women by hand, which is incredible when you think about it. Argan oil is another really popular oil that is an example of a natural ingredient that's produced by Berber women in Morocco. And the income from these ingredients provides women with education and income opportunities. And for these women, getting fair prices for their ingredients is absolutely key. So when you're thinking about beauty industry and equality, ensuring that women are getting a fair price for their labor really is something that we should think about, and I think it can often be overlooked. So, yeah, I really wanted just to acknowledge the role of these women in the beauty industry around the world that perhaps don't have the same visibility of a female founder. But actually, without these women and the work that they do in the supply chain, this industry simply would not exist.

I think that's a really important point to make because you're right, we do automatically think women in beauty. We're thinking, you know, maybe the services sector, we're thinking female founders, particularly in our world, of course. But it is something that is often overlooked. So I think it's so important that you. You sort of shone a spotlight on the incredible work that so many of these women are doing.

Yeah, it's really interesting and it's really important to think about. I think. So. Lorraine, can you tell us a little bit about how can Indie Beauty contribute to Gender Equality?

So now we come to the very heart of the reason behind our podcast episode today and why we're recording this piece ahead of International Women's Day to shine a light on the incredible women in our community and our industry. And you've heard some stories already today in this podcast. Now, we think that indie beauty plays a role in the drive towards gender equality because it allows women to step out of the workforce and create their own opportunities. Now, I've certainly seen this myself, as I was not given those same opportunities when I worked in various companies around the world. And from what I've heard over the years, this is definitely something many women experience. And it shows when we look at the reasons behind women starting businesses. Because according to the statistics, women are at least 20% more likely to cite necessity rather than opportunity as their motivation for starting a business. In other words, they often just need to generate their own income. And another statistic I came across in preparation for this podcast is that women are nearly five times more likely to mention family reasons for becoming self employed than men. And a survey done in the UK found that a fifth of females chose to work as self employed to help combine the family commitments and wanting to work at home with being employed in a flexible manner. Now, conversely, men were almost twice as likely to say that one of the reasons they became self employed was to make more money than were women. And let's not forget that, as we've already discussed, the odds are stacked against you as a female entrepreneur when it comes to receiving funding and support. Now, I read a fascinating article in the Harvard Business Review recently. It was truly incredible. It blew my mind. And it analyzed the types of questions that male founders and female founders are asked by investors. Male founders tend to be asked questions about growth and opportunity, while female founders tend to be asked questions that focus on the prevention of potential losses. Just nuts. And I can personally attest to this too. I mean, I've sat in meetings with accountants and financial advisors. I was in one a couple of years ago. Everyone in there was male apart from me. And I found myself being told that Formula Botanica should start to focus on making courses for men because surely the market for women was saturated already by now and they were basically trying to get me to admit that I had to prevent potential losses. Now, thankfully, I'm very confident in how I run the school, so I shut that conversation down immediately and told them all where to stick it. And thankfully, they all came back weeks later to tell me that they'd done as I said and they'd asked their wives, their mothers, their sisters, their daughters. They wanted to learn, to formulate, and they were all stunned to realize that they do. But I can almost guarantee that the questions I was asked would have been different if I was a man. So it's not easy as a woman starting a business because your confidence is continuously undermined by people asking you how you'll prevent your business from going under rather than focusing on the opportunities for growth. And many women start their business out of necessity to look after or be with their families. So, to summarise, I'd like to turn back, circle back to those amazing pioneers we talked about earlier in the podcast, like Madam CJ Walker Walker or Annie Turnbow Malone or Harriet Hubbard Ayer or Estee Lauder, who started their indie beauty brands in their kitchens a century ago. They did so because it was an industry they know and feel confident in and because they had the opportunity to start their beauty brands from home and to run them on their own terms. And when it comes to the reasons behind women starting beauty businesses in all that time, I honestly feel that those reasons generally haven't changed. And I think that tying all of this together, watching all these women in our sector start businesses and lift themselves up and give themselves a seat at the table, I think that indie beauty can play a really big role in helping women to start a business in a sector that they do feel confident in and comfortable in and can allow them to change lives, not just their own, but also those of the people around them. So I think it's really exciting. And obviously we see this at Formula Botanica all the time as well. I don't want to just be the only person answering this question because it sits at the crux of the podcast. So, Anna, what do you think? How do you think that indie beauty can contribute to gender equality?

Well, I love everything that you said, Lorraine, in terms of indie beauty really providing opportunity for women. And also the fact that because we have these amazing stories that women can aspire to, that we have so many people now who are thinking about taking that leap for themselves. And when we sort of bring this back to the Formula Botanica community, I mean, we're a very welcoming community, we welcome everyone, but our community is heavily female. You know, we do have many more women than men studying with us. And what I love about our community is the support and the help that we see that students give each other and how that really can support people on their journey. Because like you say, mentorship and support can really make a difference when it comes to people really succeeding in their business and even having that confidence to take that first step. I read a statistic that said that 15% of women cite lack of confidence as a reason why they wouldn't start their own brand. And I think we're demonstrating through what we teach at Formula Botanica, through all our amazing graduate stories and in the beauty industry in general, that it can be done and, you know, women should have the confidence to go for it, that they deserve a place at the table as well. So I think that's really important and I really do think that the community support aspect that we have at Formula Botanica is really helpful. We see it all the time in the club, in our online classroom, people saying to each other, thank you, and they list names of students that have helped them through. Without it, I couldn't, couldn't have, you know, without your support, I couldn't have done it. And I really love that.

Me too. And I think that's a wonderful note to end on. So thank you very much for joining me today, Anna. As always, it has been an absolute pleasure chatting with you.

Thank you, Lorraine. I love this topic.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and I hope it's given you lots to think about with respect to the ways that indie beauty can lead to gender equality. I think it's exciting when we draw parallels between the early pioneers and modern, modern beauty and the way that indie beauty is now emerging as such a powerhouse in this half a trillion dollar industry and giving women more opportunities than ever to shape their lives. After all, to quote the UN Sustainable Development Goals, gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. And I love seeing how indie beauty plays its part in helping us to achieve this incredibly important goal. Get ready to take part in International Women's Day for BreakTheBias on March 8th. We're sharing this podcast and my follow up Green Beauty Opinion next week in the run up to International Women's Day so that you can also join us in getting ready to talk publicly about women's equality and its role in sustainable beauty. Please do join in with the discussion online and come and leave us a comment on our social channels as both the Formula Botanica team and I love hearing from from you. Thank you for joining Anna and I for this latest episode of Green Beauty Conversations. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please do leave us a five star review so that other people can enjoy these conversations too. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast on Apple Music or Spotify or whatever your favorite podcast app is, and stay tuned for the next episode. Follow Formula Botanica Formula Botanica on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Visit our website at formulabotanica.com and sign up for our free online formulation course today.