Revolutionizing Beauty: Sustainable and Inclusive Cosmetics ft. Jenn Harper (Cheekbone Beauty)

Jenn Harper is not just a name in the beauty industry; she's a revolution. An award-winning social entrepreneur and international speaker, Jenn is the trailblazing founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics—a brand that has gracefully painted the ideals of sustainability and inclusion onto a global canvas. From its inception in 2015, Jenn has nurtured Cheekbone Beauty into a B. Corp Certified force, now gracing the shelves of Sephora Canada and 550 JC Penney locations across the USA.

Jenn's journey with Cheekbone began as a digitally native, direct-to-consumer brand that took pride in its commitment to reducing environmental impact and supporting Indigenous communities.

The accolades accruing to Jenn's name bear the weight of her achievements. In 2022, she was listed among the 100 Women of Influence by Entrepreneur Magazine—a list graced by the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian. And importantly, in 2023, Jenn was conferred an Honorary Doctorate degree from the Goodman School of Business at Brock University. This honorary degree recognized her unwavering dedication to community betterment and adamant endeavors in championing sustainability.

Jenn Harper, with Cheekbone Beauty, brings forth a narrative of passion, resilience, and authenticity. And she shares this deep wealth of knowledge and compassion on this episode, which I know our Resilience Reports will love. And I am not going to lie: as someone who has ceremoniously swiped on Cheekbone Beauty products every day for the past 3 years, getting ready the morning of this recording felt like a dream!

In case you want to try out Cheekbone’s incredible products, Jenn and her team have generously provided us with a code to get a 20% discount off your next order! Visit www.cheekbonebeauty.com and enter code: RESILIENCE20.

Transcript

Something you may or may not know about me is that, along with a passion for the planet since I was a kid, another passion that I have had for decades is makeup. This love admittedly has gone as far as sporting a winged eyeliner even while completing a couple of half marathons!

And as these parallel interests have grown over the years, I have become increasingly curious about finding brands that not only offer gorgeous products, but that also do so in ethical and sustainable ways. In 2021, I came across what would soon become a daily staple for me: a vibrant, beautiful brand called Cheekbone Beauty. While what initially had me loving the brand were their sustainable ingredients and packaging, I quickly became a fan of their deep community and awareness work, their B Corp certification, and their magnetic and visionary founder: Jenn Harper.

Jenn is not just a name in the beauty industry; she's a revolution. An award-winning social entrepreneur and international speaker, Jenn is the trailblazing founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics—a brand that has gracefully painted the ideals of sustainability and inclusion onto a global canvas. From its inception in 2015, Jenn has nurtured Cheekbone Beauty into a B. Corp Certified force, now gracing the shelves of Sephora Canada and 550 JC Penney locations across the USA.

Jenn's journey with Cheekbone began as a digitally native, direct-to-consumer brand that took pride in its commitment to reducing environmental impact and supporting Indigenous communities. 

The accolades accruing to Jenn's name bear the weight of her achievements. In 2022, she was listed among the 100 Women of Influence by Entrepreneur Magazine—a list graced by the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian. And importantly, in 2023, Jenn was conferred an Honorary Doctorate degree from the Goodman School of Business at Brock University. This honorary degree recognized her unwavering dedication to community betterment and adamant endeavors in championing sustainability.

Jenn Harper, with Cheekbone Beauty, brings forth a narrative of passion, resilience, and authenticity. And she shares this deep wealth of knowledge and compassion on this episode, which I know our Resilience Reports will love. And I am not going to lie: as someone who has ceremoniously swiped on Cheekbone Beauty products every day for the past 3 years, getting ready the morning of this recording felt like a dream! 

In case you want to try out Cheekbone’s incredible products, Jenn and her team have generously provided us with a code to get a 20% discount off your next order! Visit www.cheekbonebeauty.com and enter code: RESILIENCE20.

With that, help me welcome Jenn to the show!

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[Host: Lauren Scott] Alright, well, this is an episode that I'm so excited about because while this is the first time we've had the founder of this brand on the show, our audience members of The Resilience Report have actually seen their products on every single one of our episodes on YouTube because I've been wearing Cheekbone Beauty for the past couple of years and really am a huge fan of all the products. And today, we have their founder, Jen Harper, joining us. So, welcome, Jenn!

[Guest: Jenn Harper] Thank you! Oh, thank you! I love hearing that. That makes me feel so good. 

Well, for those who are less familiar with your brand, would you mind sharing a little bit more about Cheekbone Beauty and how you got to creating the brand? Because you didn't have the most conventional journey into the beauty industry.

No, definitely not the norm. I think I always, now that I've been here a while, the stories are people have worked for a conglomerate like Estée Lauder or Coty, one of the big players, and they do their sort of tenure at these organizations and then go on to start a beauty brand or are a celebrity or a makeup artist to celebrities or an influencer. Now, that's something very common as well, starting brands. And so, I'm definitely not in any of those spaces. I had no experience in the beauty industry. I was actually in the food space for most of my career, and in particular, I was selling fish when I had an actual pop out of bed middle of the night dream with three native indigenous little girls covered in lipstick or lip gloss. And all I remember from that dream is, like, their laughter, their giggling, their brown skin, rosy cheeks, and grabbed my laptop that night and started writing out what is the foundation of our brand to this day. So, the whole idea was I knew that if you created a product, the whole kind of purpose was we could use a portion of the profits or do something to support or help my community in some way. And so, that was the beginning. I was a really big fan of brands like Tom Shoes at the time of having that dream and this whole concept of a social impact business, which was a relatively new word in the space. This is in 2015 when I started down this path, and that dream happened in that January. And then, at the same time of having that dream and thinking of, be, working on this business based on social impact, I was actually learning about the residential school system and the boarding school system in North America. And what this was was something that both of my grandparents had survived, so this was new information to me. And I was also in a really interesting time in my personal life. I had literally just overcome alcoholism addiction. I just got sober two months before having that dream. And so, it's just this crazy period of time but also where I'm feeling so much clarity. And that dream and building a brand that was in the beauty space didn't seem weird or foreign to me. 

Like, I was like, okay, I'm going to figure out how to do this. And I really think since the beginning of starting our brand, that's kind of been our mission is like, we will figure it out, you know? Get into the industry, and fast forward to where we are today, just have so many learnings and discoveries that, one, how we started the brand was definitely not where we are today or where we actually want to finish, but I had to use this this world, what was called private labelling. And so, when I had that dream of course, the first thing someone does is, like, how do you get a lip gloss made? And so, hit Google, typed that in, and you can see, you know, run into YouTube videos of people making this in their kitchens, which isn't that difficult, believe it or not, it's you can do that. And then, there was also the other option of these organizations that already have product ready to go, if you will, proven stability now. Which I learned a lot about stability in products and testing. I'm married to someone who's in the space where regulatory and compliance is a big deal. So, this would never be allowed to have been made in our kitchen because I would recognize how unsafe that is for consumers. So, I went down the path of private label. And that's how we started. 

And then, in the first few months into the year, I really remember so many questions coming from our customer community at that time. And they were questions I couldn't truthfully answer about sourcing practices and perhaps packaging issues like why are you using plastic? So, there I was starting to recognize that there was this need or want for more sustainably sourced eco-friendly products. The clean term had started to become very popular and recognizable, and people were asking a lot of questions about ingredients and products that they were putting on their skin. And so, all of this is happening, I then learned quite quickly that how we started and the brand that did exist at the time was definitely not how we were going to win or succeed in this space. And so, it was pretty soon after that that I was like, okay, we need to figure out how to get more all the things that start to come in into an entrepreneur's mind of like, how do we actually do this in a better way? 

And part of doing that in a better way, I know Cheekbone Beauty has come out and said that there's two kind of guiding principles that are involved with your business. One of which is the Seventh Generation principle, and the other is this idea of Two-Eyed Seeing. For our listeners who are maybe less familiar with those two terms, would you mind walking us through that and then what that means to your brand?

Yeah, so culturally, you know, what sets us apart as a brand, and we knew that would be really important as we were building, was the more I was learning about my culture, there's these teachings that are passed down through generations. And I always often say I wish somebody would have put this in books cause it would be nice to navigate this, but we pass down teachings and traditions orally as indigenous people. And one of the really powerful teachings that we pay a lot of attention to at Cheekbone Beauty is that seven generations teaching. So, all of us as individuals can think about right now today, what am I doing that would impact our next seven generations? And is it in a good way or is it in a negative way? And start asking ourselves those kinds of questions to think about how we're living. And the whole purpose is to figure out, is there possible changes I could make to leave a better impact? Is there things I could do differently? 

And then, when it comes to the concept of Two-Eyed Seeing, this was something that was coined by an elder on the east coast. And, you know, when you think of making makeup, that's chemistry. So, it's science. And I believe that nature, there's so much science in nature, in our creative design world. And when you look at that and we had this idea to step away from private label early on and start to do things and so, we built our own lab, hired our own team of scientists including chemists, and then really thought about okay, if we're going to do this, is it possible? And I started researching this concept of Two-Eyed Seeing where it's using Western science and this idea of indigenous wisdom from the past to really form the decisions and how we make and create the products in our lab. And so, it's those two ideas married together and really thinking about how you can do that at the same time. 

And those two principles are definitely demonstrated in many different facets, I would say, of Cheekbone Beauty. But one of which is ingredients. And I know you're very mindful as to which ingredients your team does decide to put into your products. Can you speak a little bit more about what those considerations are and what it looks like in choosing those ingredients whether it means that they're vegan or that your products are cruelty-free or fair-trade components as well?

There's a lot of I think confusion, misinformation, and a lot of information in general in our space right now. And so, what we had to do as a brand is really define what we wanted to be. And then, that meant looking at our customer and what our customer wanted from us. And so, once we started and working on and building the lab and thinking about our brand from this perspective and moving away from using other formulations from the private white labelers, this was the space in those few years where we were like, okay, if we're sort of rebranding, redefining who we are in this world, who do we want to be? And that's where we sat down and created what we call our Bnaad Beauty standards. 'Bnaad' is the word for clean in my language, Anishinaabe Moen, the language of my ancestors. And we chose that just so it was clear that these were the standards that Cheekbone Beauty wanted to make our products from. And so, once we looked at that, it was a lot easier than to create. And I think so you, you, you iterated a few things that are really important: we were hearing, and even though from a cultural perspective, veganism isn't something of a cultural practice in the Indigenous Community, however, it was one of the main things that I know our customers, so the people who are buying our products, really wanted to see. They wanted to be ensured that our products were 100% vegan, which was also a struggle because in some cases when we are thinking about making something vegan and I feel like this happens in the food space that perhaps then we're making something and it's turning into something that might not be good for us in a different way, right? And so, there's a lot, there were a lot of variables and nuances around that. However, we understood it was really clear from our audience that they wanted vegan products. And cruelty-free is a standard, a staple now in the beauty industry, of course, that was a going to be something that we're striving for. 

And following our clean beauty standards and what and how we work on that requirement is this through this lens of also being sustainable. And so, clean and sustainability mean it's ingredients and power packaging that aren't impacting the human or the environment in a negative way. And so, unfortunately, and this is where we had to look at vegan ingredients at the same time because what happens now is when you're making an ingredient to replace something that is possibly done in a lab and now, we've created a composition or a compound or a new ingredient that possibly would not become biodegradable because of it taking on a new form. And so, for us as a brand, the ingredients that we choose and want to work with really have to meet our biodegradability standard or composability, and meaning when it hits back into the ecosystem, which could be when you wash your makeup off your face at the end of the day and it's going down the drain if you're going into a lake or an ocean, which are all the cases, then want our ingredients to be biodegradable so that it's not impacting those systems in a negative way. And so, that's one thing. Unfortunately in this space, I don't know a lot of brands that talk about that, and it's something that's really, really important to us. So not only clean and safe for humans but also clean and safe for all of our biodiversity or ecosystems on the planet, which means aquatic life, which is really, really important. There's a ton of ingredients unfortunately in the color cosmetic space that are known to actually impact aquatic systems in negative ways. 

Wow, and I think a lot of consumers, even if we're trying to be conscious of our decision, often think of it all the way to our skin but then not after it comes off our skin. So, that's really important for all of our listeners to consider myself included in that. 

You did mention packaging, and that's probably part of why I fell in love with Cheekbone Beauty to begin with. I just loved how sustainably minded the packaging was. How do you balance that sustainable angle and then your packaging is also so cute. So, on a more I guess informal manner how do you manage to balance those two because you definitely struck that balance.

Yeah, you know, all of the credit I'm really going to give to a creative agency that we worked with. It actually was felt what in terms of the I think our colors of the brand and it just made sense, right, that we would be these bold and we love to be the call ourselves, you know, we are indigenous roots inform everything we do, we're sustainable by nature because of our indigenous roots but we're also a brand that wanted to bring bold color to this clean category and it I think everything was like muted and like Millennial Pink and mint green and white for so long and I'm like no if you go into nature you know and had the beauty of like even a dandelion it's like bright yellow like and there's bold beautiful purples and fuchsias and blues and turquoise. There's just so much color in nature, and we wanted to highlight that through branding. And so, we picked these three categories one face for us is purple, lips is are pink, and eye category is teal and we you were able to literally if you think of anything of our products that come in a pencil form well now look how gorgeous it looks in your makeup bag and you also know what you're grabbing for which he used to do everything in black that's why I was like when we started working with this creative agency that took us down I was like this just makes so much more sense and it's beautiful.

And that really helped us and then as we've grown from sort of that platform a lot of our packaging has grown with us and so when we moved and we were trying to do things in refillable so when we found our lipstick and lip gloss partner they were able to make those that that packaging which is a biomaterial as well as being refillable that is in our beautiful pink and then using PCR (which is post-consumer resin) so now this is plastic so when Cheekbone Beauty chooses to use a plastic it's not a virgin it's had a second or a third life which is really important, because you know we can't vilify plastic when we've already created too much of it on the planet anyway we need to figure out what to do with it and what's really interesting when we're on a sustainability journey which we always talk about it this way because there is no end point there's no silver bullet one formulation will dictate the kind of packaging that the product needs to actually be the most efficacious for the customer. So, paper and wood are porous and allow for air; so our primer stick for instance the main ingredient is water you can imagine we can't get air at that so we have that housed in 100% PCR. So that unit has already been a second or third life of a product and that's why we can't vilify plastic. 

And then when you think of another path which is really important to consider is the energy consumption, so it requires an enormous amount more energy to make glass, wood and paper versus plastic believe it or not. So looking at that from that vantage point is really important as well because now if you think glass or aluminum or wood or all these things are for more sustainable, because again how they impact the Earth but also the energy required it's a key part to understand how much and where you truly fall in sort of if you were looking at this through a sustainability calculator. And that's, as a brand, we've actually done that on products. So that that would be part of the path: someone can't just choose and say “oh I chose glass because of this” and then now glass oh well how heavy is that to ship and transport as well more energy required or carbon issues regarded your transportation mode for that kind of packaging as well. So if you pick up any of our pencils the purpose is one the cap PCR second life, now that wood is also coming from protected forests so we only work with partners who offer sustainably sourced cedar and you will feel how light that item is and that's on purpose.

Well, you did touch on emissions, and so I think I think one thing that's truly incredible because right now (for our listeners who are less familiar with Canadian rules and regulations) you don't yet have to report on your scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. And Cheekbone Beauty you've taken the very proactive stance of reporting on your scope 1 and 2 and parts of your scope 3 with kind of your path going forward. First of all, I have to say your sustainability report is gorgeous using those accent colors (that teal and the pinks that you were talking about before) but what made you want to take that proactive stance? Because a lot of companies that I do deal with in my personal and professional lives are kind of waiting until regulations come. So, what made you want to be proactive with that approach? 

Well, it gives you a starting point, number one. I was like we can't fix anything unless we know where we are and that was the main reason we did that for sure. And it came at the same time as we that we became a B Corp certified company as well, because you have to know where you're starting from. And it is kind of awful because you're like oh we're doing so bad in this one area or that area and then you're recognizing that. But we need a platform to go from, and I think we can't look at it like we're doing really bad in one area: we have to look at it like at least we're starting, at least we're doing something. And that's why we chose to do that, and I wanted to really understand personally. I'm the founder. I'm the leader of this brand. If we're going to say these things then I really need to know what we're talking about and speak to that and get a full a full understanding of what these this kind of reporting system actually means.

And part of your work, also in your mission for Cheekbone is deeply being involved with indigenous communities and really finding those right partners. We do have a lot of listeners who are either leaders of small businesses or larger businesses, also a lot of entrepreneurs: if they're just thinking about who to partner with, let's say if they have this desire to really work closely with certain community members, what has that process been like for you of choosing who you wanted to work with?

Yeah, which can be quite scary because sometimes things can create controversy and organizations have had their own sort of moments of maybe things weren't done the best or things aren't going well. So that was actually a tough decision. In the early days, and I got this direction from a lot of sort of people that were rallying around our brand to support it and help us really become a business, and the advice I did receive was like okay don't - because initially I wanted to start our own thing like our own scholarship fund and our own just because I didn't know who to trust either right when you're saying you're going to work with an organization and support them with finances - you're like okay well who do I trust? So we found a few indigenous organizations that were heavily vetted obviously by me and other people that I surround myself with and we would partner with them in the early days and give donations and in-kind donations (both cash and in kind) and then all as we grew we really knew we wanted to partner with Inspire because they I guess in in terms of leadership in terms of indigenous education they've always done that that's their world I think they've been doing this for 35 years now and so they have a wonderful reputation. But as this small new business you can imagine they're like “who are you? What do you want to do? You want to help with scholarships?” And so it took a few years but really grateful that in our first year of launching our scholarship fund (that we call the Cheekbone Beauty Scholarship Fund, but now it is in partnership with Inspire that they've supported us and the whole purpose of that is one they know what they're doing in that space, so why not lean on them for their expertise. But at the same time, for a business to start their own not-for-profit venture isn't entirely—it's a whole new business, and unfortunately, we're small and just didn't have the capacity to do that. So grateful that we've found these great partnerships, but it does take a lot of time to find the right ones and make sure that, you know, you don't want all your efforts to go to waste. But think about the things that are meaningful to you as a small business or as an organization, even just on a community level. There’re so many things that small community-based businesses can work with locally in their own sort of regions. 

Those are all great tips. And you also mentioned earlier that you're B Corp certified. I was recently at a conference, and there's a whole panel—it was just on B Corp, and it was interesting because every single person on the panel said, 'Yes, it is a huge lift,' and then every single person on the panel then said, 'But I would do it in a heartbeat again.' So, what has the process been like for Cheekbone Beauty? Is it that heavy of a lift for a smaller medium-sized organization, and what made you want to go that avenue?

It really is a big lift, but as mentioned, I will echo the words of those other founders and businesses that it's for sure certainly worth it. And one is there is no, there's no organizations out here because we've tried that, actually, I think do the amount of work that the B Corp community does in terms of how they partner with and who they partner with and how things are vetted and how serious they take that because in many cases, every other organization, I will just say all you have to do is write them a check basically up front or say you're going to, and your their seal can go on your box. Every single one, all of them. There's not one except B Corp, and I'm just being legit truthful. We've reached out to all of them, and it's really about paying them, that's what they want. You know, maybe the deep dive happens later, but I've not heard that it does from any of them that they just want to see the cheque, right? So, I really respect, and I really firmly believe that the B Corp community's their values align with our indigenous set of values and principles that we've built our business on, and I really feel that that kinship and allyship and all of those things that you should with a partner that respects your organization and respects the planet. Personally, that's, I think the thing that means the most to me.

Well, you're definitely hitting on this idea of, I guess, greenwashing or even cause-washing to a certain degree in being in the beauty space. Certainly, terms like natural or eco-friendly or sustainable will get thrown around quite a bit. How has your team navigated being as transparent as possible with your customer base and really building that trust around messaging? Because it can be challenging as a consumer to know which kind of message or certification you can trust.

I think the consumer has to decide who they are and what they want, right? And you will find the brand that is speaking to you based on those things. The ones that are doing a lot of the greenwashing, it's evident, and I think if anyone's serious about these things, they will catch that. Unfortunately, they will dupe many people because it's just easy to do with blanket marketing terms. But as a consumer, you know, our goal as a business is to shift and transform consumers. That's really tough. Like, not only are we a new business, but we actually are here to help change the mindsets of human beings, which is really, really a challenge. We get stuck in our ways, so to speak. And so when you're a brand that's pushing on this path, that it's a lot of education, but also a lot of transparency. And I think our community, our core customers, really see that. And when I always ask people to ask that brand them like if you're concerned about something, ask them. And if they can't, if their answer is literally a sentence, then they actually don't know what they're doing in that space. And you can have a conversation with someone, and in a few minutes, really understand if they're truly understanding what it means to be on this sustainable journey or path and they just want to toss those words up there because we all live in this world of keywords and hashtags, right? And that's where people gain attention. But what we have to do is, as a community together, is like try to shift this mindset that these things are really important so more people are asking questions of those brands that are doing those things.

Well, you're doing a phenomenal job in terms of stakeholder engagement. We are definitely going to invite everybody to check out Cheekbone Beauty's social media as well because there's a lot of pieces on there that I find very informative. Are you and the Cheekbone team working on any projects in particular right now that you're excited about and that you can publicly share?

Anything that we can publicly share? No, there is lots of exciting stuff, but nothing that we can like share publicly. So like stay tuned! We're always in product development, like we live in that space all the time, so there's always and not and when you're a sustainable brand, it's not like we can pump out a new product every month, which really does happen in the bigger spaces, like I talked so many brands that like that is the push and it's unfortunate even what your retail partners want from you is like what's new, what's coming. And so we're always in that, but you can rest assured that when Cheekbone Beauty pushes out a product, it's certainly something that we believe in and not just we're like okay, we need a new product. We really want something that we know people are going to absolutely love and we feel like will be an asset to their makeup bag and something that will be great for their skin or their lips or their eyes or their face, you know what I mean? It's like we know this is going to improve their routine and help. So that's difficult is sort of we all are working on stuff but then fighting like the I guess the capacity or the amount that we're that we do bring out. So, there's lots of stuff coming this year, we're having quite a big year, and actually right into the next. Like I feel like our development plan is on fire but I can't share anything just yet, so that's tough because I want to I've got a big mouth.

Well, very exciting, and everyone will have to check that out, but it's funny I never made the connection between I think I'm very familiar with fast-fashion but I hadn't realized that probably the same pressure for that fast release basis in beauty. I mentioned just before that a lot of our listeners are more on the entrepreneurial side or business leaders within smaller to medium-sized organizations, and that often means that you have a very tight marketing budget. Are there any tips that you've learned along the way what works or doesn't work? Is it trade shows or social media or Google AdWords like what has worked for you over the years?

Yeah, I honestly, I wish I had one great answer for this because I'm seeking it too - everyone just so everyone know, you know what. And when we started Cheekbone, we were in the days of great just, you know, natural growing, there's no crazy weird algorithms that were impeding our growth on social media, the ad space was working effectively spending little dollars and all that was working. So, we lived that, had that moment as well, and now we're in this space of trying to figure it out. I really believe that influencer marketing and UCG content and all those things are not going to go anywhere, and for us in the beauty world, it's really important because what we see is our community loves to see before and afters or how the product actually works. And so instead of it always just being our team, we definitely love working with influencers and content creators that can help us show the products and that way it's on multiple variations of the human being that it's not just coming from us all the time, the core of us that work here and that is effective, it has been for us. Very time-consuming because you're, it's human relationships which takes up a ton of time. 

I believe in email marketing, I think that that's still super effective when you get your community and only sending them out, you know, really important messaging - you want to give them something like make this really value-added. And again, that educational piece is really important like share what we know with everyone and I think people appreciate learning as well; they feel like they're learning something. And marketing is so layered. We talk about this all the time that it's like it's not the one thing that we have we're doing all of these things all the time. We used to work with PR agencies, I don't recommend it was really expensive lift for us and I know it can be for a lot of brands, and so unless you can find one that is super cost-effective it like that's it's got to meet your budget because that's a big heavy lift and that was advice unfortunately that I was given by that that really worked for a brand but that was 10 years ago. And now we're living in a and because the world is changing dramatically all the time and so I always find it tough to give advice - you know it's like where you're spending your dollars really does matter. But it's a little bits of everything that you have to do and it's not one thing it's just I wish I had a better easier answer.

Well, it's a great idea though in terms of leveraging the newer tools as well because I think sometimes we're nervous to try out influencer marketing versus let's say more traditional PR so I think those are great recommendations. 

And it's all of it; it has to be all of it right? 

Yeah, yeah, and it needs to be that cohesive look and message I think across all those different platforms which you do such a great job. The other camp I would say that we have in terms of red listeners are people who are on their professional journey and have are maybe thinking about doing a career pivot. What I've found over the past year or so of doing this show is 2020 was this moment of clarity for a lot of executives that decided okay I really want to dedicate my career towards sustainability. If we do have listeners who are kind of like you were was in the food industry prior to this shift and they're thinking about joining kind of a company that is more aligned with their values or maybe starting something, what would you recommend that they consider before doing that transition?

I don't think I did anything I just sort of jumped and I think the way to gauge that is I knew how passionate I was about this I knew how important this felt and so there's really like if it's that there and it's like this burning in your belly. I always use that example and it's like you're on fire then you know you're going to take the right leap if it's shifting in even into an entirely new industry. Like if it's something you can't let go of, you know you have to do it because you'll regret it if you don't. So I'm obviously a risk-taker because a lot of us who are entrepreneurial are and so yeah and it's scary but it's when there's so much passion behind it, there's certainly no regrets for sure. 

I think of all the risks I've taken and I'm still taking but then I like I get to wake up every day and do this and this is my job and I'm doing something that I love and supporting the most important part which is like you know I firmly believe that on this unconscious level we didn't realize the society how important representation is for all sort of groups of people no matter who you are where you come from on the planet you want to feel like you belong somewhere and so with Cheekbone Beauty you know the early days our whole the foundation of our brand is built on this concept of just representation. It was that simple: why didn't an Indigenous brand exist in the beauty world at a grand scale. And that was what we set out to do, and I know just the work that we've been able to do has really given Indigenous people a place to see themselves and that's I think something I'm so proud of. And that all started from that burning in my belly, and I knew I couldn't sleep and I knew I had to go do everything to make it happen. 

It is a very exciting yet terrifying feeling for sure. And I'm sure the burning in your belly is part of what keeps you going as an entrepreneur, but do you have other tools in your toolbox because it really is a marathon and not a sprint being an entrepreneur. How do you keep your energy in a space where you can come back and continue to recommit to the work on a daily basis?

Yeah, that is such a great question and so important because I think passion you're right it's there but it'll get you so far, but it can exhaust you and burn you out too at the same time if you weren't refilling your cup. I think for me personally, a big part of the existence of Cheekbone was my sobriety journey. And so, before having that dream, two months beforehand, I got sober. And so since that part of my life, which is 10 years ago this November, I've literally just created a daily practice and routine that I do every single day and it starts my day with prayer and meditation and physical fitness and that's what I have to do - that's like my time: there's no phone with me there ever in those moments and usually it's in nature as much as humanly possible.

And, if not, then I make my way outside at some point in that morning work piece and that's like an hour that's everything and that's how I get to feel okay. And then you have to take breaks throughout the year as well to step away, but every day that's how I start the day and you know it it's gotten better like that finding a little the balance. And realizing how important your family is. My kids they're grown and that happens so fast and you don't want to miss those really important moments so just taking the time when you have breaks and take breaks to spend time with your family. 

This has all been such beautiful advice. If we do have listeners who want to check out Cheekbone Beauty where are the best places for them to go and if they want to learn more about you - where would you recommend they check out?

I'm Jenn on the social platforms and we are at Cheekbone Beauty and you can find us at Sephora in Canada and JC Penney in the United States.

And finally, we do like to end every episode with the same question which is: what do you think it will take for businesses and leaders to be resilient going forward?

My answer is always consistency. I feel I don't have any like super skills. I've gotten to this point in life where I'm just very consistent. So, you know, every day for the last seven years I have done something to work on Cheekbone to like move the brand forward. So, consistency is always my answer in that world: if you're consistent and you don't give up, then whatever you're working on it can't fail.

Well, thank you for not giving up because we love your brand and your message and what you're bringing to the community so thank you very much Jenn for joining us today on The Resilience Report!

Thank you for having me.