S1, E5: From Dream to Sephora: Building a Purpose-Driven Beauty Brand

Jenn Harper: [00:00:00] I literally had a dream back in 2015, about three native little girls covered in lip gloss and, you know, fast forward to today, but it was definitely, I was always working for other people. I had no idea quite honestly, what even that word really meant until I dabbled into this space over the last, I think it’s 8 years now, but.

Was not on my path. I call myself an accidental entrepreneur, but certainly really grateful for that dream because it was life changing. It changed me. It changed my career. It changed my family.

Georgi Enthoven: Did you know the average person will work 90, 000 hours in their lifetime? What if you could use those hours to find fulfillment and become a disruptor for good?

Welcome to the Work That’s Worth It podcast. I’m Georgi Enthoven, and I’m here to demonstrate that an Ambitious, meaningful and rewarding career is not just a dream, it’s achievable. Each episode will dive into conversations with global change makers who crack the code on combining [00:01:00] income and impact. If you’ve ever felt like you were torn between a paycheck and your purpose, or maybe you simply yearn for more purpose.

You’re going to be exposed to the ambitious humans who have done it themselves, ready to make your work worth it. Let’s get started

today on the podcast. We are hosting a wonderful Canadian Jen Harper. Who’s not just a name in the beauty industry. She’s a revolution. She’s an award winning social entrepreneur and international speaker that I have seen personally. And she is a trailblazing founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics, a brand that has gracefully painted the ideals of sustainability and inclusion onto a global campus.

Jen’s personal mission is to create a space in the beauty industry where everyone, including Indigenous people, feel represented and seen. She’s on a mission to make a [00:02:00] difference in the lives of Indigenous youth, and all that she does at Cheekbone Beauty has them in mind. Hi Jen, so great to have you on the Work That’s Worth It podcast.

Thank you for being here.

Jenn Harper: Thank you for having me.

Georgi Enthoven: I’m so excited to talk to you and learn all about cheekbone beauty. And I wanted to just jump in and find out more about your mission and what is the mission statement for your business.

Jenn Harper: Yeah, so at cheekbone beauty, our goal is to create sustainable, clean color cosmetics that don’t end up in a landfill.

And the whole original purpose of the brand was this concept about representation. So we really just want indigenous people to see themselves in our brand through our brand in multiple ways, not only through like media, but also through how we operate as a company.

Georgi Enthoven: That’s amazing. Has that been the mission since you started or has it evolved?

Jenn Harper: Yeah, it’s definitely evolved. Originally, the whole idea was seated on the, the concept about representation. [00:03:00] But as we’ve grown over the years, we’ve certainly evolved and changed and really the environmental impact had become such a big part of who we are as well. And we really wanted that incorporated in the mission.

Georgi Enthoven: What personal experiences have you had that led you to identify this gap in the market?

Jenn Harper: Yeah, so growing up, I’m Ojibwe, so that’s a tribe or nation that was literally surrounded the Great Lakes for thousands of years pre calling any of this North America or what we know as the United States and Canada, and so my people Are authentically original to the land and know it so well.

And it’s really interesting how the more I learned about who I was and where I come from, the more, where I came from, the more I wanted to incorporate my indigenous roots and layer that into the brand as well.

Georgi Enthoven: Oh, I have heard you speak before and you’re an amazing speaker, but you had mentioned your connection with your grandma’s story as well.

Jenn Harper: Yeah, [00:04:00] absolutely. It’s such a big part of it because I had no idea. And I know many people living in North America had no concept of what the residential boarding school system was. And that was really unpacked for us through the media starting in 2015. And so we all got to learn and understand that the people that were here, the original keepers of this land were not treated very well and unfortunately put into this school system that was built.

by essentially church and state to assimilate us into more of a European lifestyle and culture. However, we as a group of people and groups of people, nations, and tribes were doing quite fine before colonization. And so What I’ve learned over the last several years is this idea, or this concept called generational or transgenerational trauma.

So my grandmother was put into one of those schools. Her experience was not wonderful. As we’ve learned, many people did not [00:05:00] have a wonderful experience. experience in that school system. And so she left with numerous amounts of trauma and I’ve seen how that was passed on in my family. And so not only to my dad and my aunties and my uncles, but then ultimately passed on to me, my siblings and my cousins.

And we are now doing the work of really trying to unravel what that kind of trauma can do to groups of people and how we can heal from that. And so when I learned that I It felt like it was truly an aha moment for me, because to be honest, nobody talked about that school system, or I think the really negative implications of it when I was growing up.

So I didn’t understand why there was some dysfunction or really traumatic experiences in my family. But when I learned the truth, that’s when I recognized me as an individual, I was. quite capable of changing my community and my circle and doing the work to really change the effects of a negative generational [00:06:00] trauma and try to turn it into something positive.

And so that’s what we did with the brand and learning really early on what representation meant has been a big part of that and how when we as groups of people generally marginalized feel seen, it really can create a massive difference within our communities.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah, that is so beautiful how you’ve been able to take something really tragic and difficult and turn it into something positive.

And I’m sure it takes a few generations to be able to actually make that shift where the pain is far enough away where you can actually use it for something good without it hurting you too deeply.

Jenn Harper: Yeah, so true. We learn a lot about ourselves as we’re growing and you learn a lot about these kinds of subjects and topics and how it is possible as human beings.

I find the human spirit extraordinary in the sense that we can really face really traumatic Life changing, altering, deeply painful situations, but it doesn’t have to impede [00:07:00] who we become or who we want to become if we really do have some control over that. Unfortunately, and it’s so it’s a really hard position to be in because, of course, you would never want horrible things to happen to you or your family, but you can see that there can be positive things that grow out of that.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah, there was something beautiful I was reading about when I was doing some research and talking to you and it’s about the seventh generation principle. And I was wondering if you can share a little bit about that and how you brought that into the thinking about your business and its mission.

Jenn Harper: Yeah, sure.

So 1 of the things that sets cheekbone beauty really apart from a lot of other brands that exist, not only in the beauty space, but in other industries is the fact that we’ve really incorporated my indigenous culture into how we’ve built a brand and the 7 generation teaching is it. Yeah. About how what we do today can impact the next generations and we’re thinking up to the next 7 generations and how [00:08:00] it can ultimately have a good or a bad effect on that.

And when we look at this from an environmental lens. We can really make different choices in the kinds of raw materials we source, how we source our supply chain. And so as a brand, we’re really looking at that teaching and a really deep level. And we’ve also incorporated like numerous indigenous teachings into the building of, of cheekbone beauty.

Georgi Enthoven: That is so wonderful that you’re able to do that. And I imagine that the indigenous business, the way of doing business for you would clash a lot with Western business values. How have you had to grapple with that or deal with those competing values?

Jenn Harper: Yeah, for sure, because I think at the end of the day, we are in business and you’re trying to set up something that is sustainable that will last.

And that is profitable that you’re actually making a healthy profit to be able to support the people working in your organization. So there are certainly a lot of challenges. However, [00:09:00] I really believe that when we look at this and we’ve Built the business based on indigenous teachings that it is possible to actually put really wonderful products into the world.

You can have a profitable, healthy company and still pay people fairly at the same time without leaving such a negative impact on the planet by no means will we ever claim that we, we feel we have the perfect. Model or that we have the right answer. I really believe as humans, we need to recognize our inability to, to always make the right choices, but we are certainly doing the best that we can for our business at this time and for our community where we are.

Yeah.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah, that’s so relevant and important that you brought that up, this idea of being perfect, because I find that sometimes people will say, they’ll look for the one fault you have and to find, Oh, well, you’re not sustainable because your products have plastic containers. I wonder if you can talk a little bit about it being a journey and you have to [00:10:00] get started versus wait for perfect.

Jenn Harper: Yeah, I love that you’re asking this question because it’s so true and, and it’s really interesting that people really go after a brand when they’re saying they’re trying to be eco friendly or working on sustainability, it’s almost like you become a target, and then you’re right, they pinpoint the one thing that maybe you haven’t got to on that long list of changes to make when you’re working on issues Regarding sustainability, so it is important to really see this as a journey.

As you mentioned, like, this is not there is no silver bullet. There is no right answer. We found as an organization that we 1, you mentioned plastic. We try not to vilify any forms of packaging 1. It’s really about the what’s going into the exterior component, the packaging, which could be glass, aluminum, plastic, paper, wood.

There’s all kinds of options, but the item that’s actually going into that really [00:11:00] does matter. So, especially in beauty for us, it’s the formulation and what would happen to it if the. Exterior packaging was not the right choice, meaning, for instance, we’ve tried products that were in paper, but paper is porous.

It evaporates and it’s obviously not the best solution for every formulation. And so it’s really important to think about things and recognize that on this path in this journey that. There’s going to be different choices that you have to make. As a society, we’ve already made a ton of plastic, so perhaps PCR, which is post consumer resin, second, third life plastic could be an option because there needs to be a solution.

And then when you actually look at the energy resources or consumption, what it takes to make a PCR product versus something out of glass or aluminum or wood. It does require actually less energy. So when we’re looking at the, a sustainability from when we’re looking at how we make something or how it’s made, we look at all the aspects of it, not just the material, [00:12:00] but how much energy is required to make glass versus plastic, for instance, or in terms of weight, what’s heavier for shipping reasons, when things have to be moved around, there’s so many different.

And that is, it will impact your carbon emissions depending on the weight of a product as well. So there’s a lot of things to look at. I mean, as a small business, I’m really proud that we really did go down the path of creating sustainability reporting systems, because this gives us a platform and a place for us to see where and how we can make improvements or make adjustments.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah. I mean, it sounds like you’re very authentic in your mission and it is a journey, but a lot of what you’re doing is building trust. With the consumers and probably the investors that you are on this path in an authentic way. And speaking of trust, I believe you are a B Corp, right?

Jenn Harper: Correct. Yeah.

Georgi Enthoven: Can you explain what that is and also how you made the decision to apply to [00:13:00] become a B Corp?

Jenn Harper: Yeah, so there’s a lot of certifications that exist in the consumer goods space and many times that we’ve, we’ve learned and researched as a brand, a lot of them really require just a check, if you will, or some form of payment without actually any sort of serious investigation about your brand, your product, your supply chain, where things are coming from, how they’re coming from, what your workforce or your looks like and what we’ve been doing.

Learned about the B Corp community is that there is a vetting that happens. There is a trusted relationship between you and the B Corp community. And it actually means once you became a B Corp certified company, 1, 2 percent of annual revenues are committed back to causes that matter. Right. So for us at cheekbone beauty, that’s our scholarship fund for indigenous youth.

And then secondly, it’s becomes this legal obligation that the business has with the B Corp organization to both people and the planet before profits. [00:14:00] It is really important to understand that it wouldn’t be something that you would just. A seal overnight, like, I know for us, the process took well over a year to go through and all the different kinds of questions that the B Corp organization asks about your organization, including not only environmental issues of how and where your packaging is coming from, or the kinds of products you’re putting into the world, but it also, too, is a lot about the kind of company or organization you’re building.

So employee relationship, And stakeholder relationships and all of those things are included in the process of vetting your organization to become a certified B Corp.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah. So that’s a big investment for a startup. How does it help you?

Jenn Harper: It really, honestly, I wanted to see where we were and where we stood because I was a firm believer in the B Corp community.

I really see us as an indigenous business, how are our values really align well with the B Corp community values. And for [00:15:00] us, originally, I was like, well, let’s see where we stand. Let’s go through this process and let’s just see. Because I, I think sometimes as businesses enter this space, you’re really concerned about what if I’m doing everything wrong?

Well, to improve as human beings or as organizations, we have to know where we’re starting from. And then that’s where, you know, you can move forward and make different choices. And so then you can do it sort of 1. Category one step at a time. So it doesn’t feel as overwhelming because there’s a lot. And what you’ll learn is my goodness.

This is daunting. My goodness. This is frustrating when you learn that quite honestly, when I think of how indigenous people view innovation, I really recognize that it’s like we’ve really been the leaders of our own demise in so many cases as a society. Truly, if we did just look to nature. The answers are all there, but unfortunately, capitalism and greed have gotten in the way of a lot of that, and [00:16:00] so it’s really interesting to recognize that it is, it’s going to be frustrating because you’re going to learn that everything that a human is innovated on is really destroyed the planet in a different way, and then even how we’re innovating and trying to fix and solve for problems we’ve already created, we are just making another thing worse over here or over here, and it’s, it is pretty frustrating.

However, I There is always a light at the end of the tunnel, if you will. And knowing I sleep well at night because I’m trying versus not.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It gives you the structure. It sounds like it gives you a community and maybe even a platform for recognition. And what about sales and are consumers interested in B Corps and or opportunities for promotion and how does it enhance your, your bottom line?

Jenn Harper: So the truth is in the last 3 years that we’ve been really looking at the data when it comes to sustainability is consumers. It’s the last thing on their list. They [00:17:00] really want it. However, they don’t make decisions actually at the checkout based on that. And so marketing sustainability and green beauty and all of the things that we talk about here, we’re going to do these things regardless.

That’s just who we are as a business, but we’ve learned actually nobody really cares, which is really sad, but that’s just the truth of it. And I think when you’re yeah. In something where a greater movement and direction has to change, it’s going to be tougher. It’s like turning a big ship around, right?

Like this is not easy changing consumer behavior when we’re just massive consumers now at the end of the day.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah. So that must be really frustrating because especially for the younger generation or millennials and Gen Z, they say that they really want to make purchase decisions and care that companies have sustainability at the forefront of their business model.

But when it comes to the checkout.

Jenn Harper: Well, the truth is they prefer [00:18:00] to know it’s like Hailey Bieber, Selena Gomez, like, let’s be real. The celebrity always wins, right? And it’s that world that we live in where those things are sadly the things that matter to young folks.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was thinking about this journey as far as, um, you guys being on a business and maybe also the consumers are on a journey, so they don’t care about it.

And I’m going to add in the word yet.

Jenn Harper: Yeah. That’s what gives me hope.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah. Yeah. You being an entrepreneur, how did that come about? Did you set out wanting to be an entrepreneur or did this just happen?

Jenn Harper: No, I, I literally had a dream back in 2015 about three native little girls covered in lip gloss and you know, fast forward to today, but it was definitely, I was always working for other people.

I had no idea quite honestly what even that word really meant until I dabbled into this space over the last, I think it’s eight years now, but. Was not on my path. I call myself an accidental entrepreneur, but certainly really [00:19:00] grateful for that dream because it was life changing. It changed me. It changed my career.

It changed my family. I feel like it’s changed so much for the better, despite how hard it is and how challenging this job can be. I feel there’s so many rewards that come in so many Different ways. It always doesn’t have to be. I think I define success about being happy and I get to wake up every day, happy knowing that I feel like we’re working on something that really matters.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah, that’s really beautiful. And skills and things that you had gotten before or developed before, what are they and how did they help you on this entrepreneurial journey?

Jenn Harper: Yeah, so I was in sales for a big chunk of my past career in the food space. Sales is humbling. You get a lot of rejection and I feel like that has definitely helped in becoming an entrepreneur for sure.

And. I believe that, you know, I always say I have no great skill set, except I’m pretty consistent. [00:20:00] So just getting up every day and working on the same thing and pushing the brand forward, I think, is really what’s driven our success. And I, I mean, I always say we’re not just a makeup or a lipstick brand.

I’m awesome. So grateful for this bigger purpose that we have that this whole concept, the original idea of just about representation has uplifted not only me personally, but I feel like my community and we get that feedback from so many indigenous people on a regular basis about what it means to them to see our products in Sephora on a shelf, our products in JCPenney on shelf.

They just feel like they, they matter when they see that.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah, I had seen something you’ve posted on LinkedIn recently about thinking about making decisions and really listening to your gut. Can you talk a little bit about some of those experiences or the truths that you have taken out of being an entrepreneur for several years?

Jenn Harper: Yeah, so the last year had been really tough. It’s the worst PNL I [00:21:00] think I’ve ever seen. And I was thinking about why and how that happened. And we had, you go into every new quarter, new year, every three years, five years, you’re looking at these plans. And our strategy was amazing last year. And the truth is, It’s just four big things that just didn’t pan out the way they were supposed to.

And when you look at, we start diving into why, and they’re supposed to work, right? Cause they work for all of the other big players or brands. And then it’s just recognizing. But anytime we’ve done these things that are sort of industry standard, it just doesn’t work for us. And I think it’s because we’re such a unique brand and this year go moving into 2025, we are promised ourselves.

We’re going back to our roots. We’re going to stay true to that and not. Take advice from consultants, third party organizations or experts in industries that don’t understand our business, like the way we’re a small group of [00:22:00] people. There’s 6 of us, but they don’t understand this the way we do, because we’re in it every day.

And we’re, we’re this close to our customer in our community. And so we’re going back to who we are really and doing things our way.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah. And as you said before, nature has the answers. And so it’s sort of going back to your roots and really leaning into the individuality that you bring to the table.

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So being an entrepreneur is tough. You just talked about having a tough year. What makes this work worth it for you? Oh,

Jenn Harper: wow. So when I talk about being here and the feedback we get from my community, to me, that is so rewarding, right? I grew up not seeing another Indigenous woman in business ever.

So the fact that I were here and being able to represent And it’s not just specifically in beauty, like I was at a pop up and there was [00:23:00] a group of indigenous women who work in the like clean energy sector and they’re introduced themselves and two of them were just like, it is so incredible to see a strong indigenous woman leading and building a company in a completely different industry, but for them, it still was empowering because none of us have seen.

Indigenous women in these spaces and C suite roles or any sort of positions of power ever. And so I feel like our next generations are certainly going to have a different vantage point because there’s I all the women I know are doing incredible things. So it’s just really exciting to be able to have been here and.

And fulfill that role for some young ones. And then also we get to do our scholarship fund every year. And that’s why we exist, right? That’s why we have this. And knowing that we’re, you know, deploying scholarships to students that are just anywhere you can grab support to get the education that you want.

Is is critical in those in your youth. I remember not having enough [00:24:00] money to complete school at one point as well. And so that’s why that is so important to me. And so finding these students that we get to give out these scholarships to is incredible. So, even despite having not the best year, we’re still able this year to give out 14 and we’ll announce that in the beginning of the new year, which feels really good.

Georgi Enthoven: Wow. And how closely are you involved in that process?

Jenn Harper: So this will be our first year that we are not reading the applications ourselves. We have done it ourselves up until now, but our partner is Inspire, which is a large indigenous education scholarship, not for profit, and they’re our partner and we’ve are getting their help going and reviewing them, which is a very hard job, but at the same time, emotionally daunting for us because I can tell you we received over 350 applications last year, and every one of those youth is deserving of that scholarship, and we only had 10 to give out.

So that’s, it’s really hard on the team [00:25:00] when we’re trying to choose who gets to win.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah, yeah. Well, that’s definitely the inspiration there. How do you get to give out the 350? Exactly.

Jenn Harper: And that’s why we’re still here and why we keep fighting, because we know there’s a lot of people that need support.

Georgi Enthoven: Where can people find your products and support you?

Jenn Harper: We’re at Cheekbone Beauty on all of our socials. We’re cheekbonebeauty. com for our e commerce store. And then we’re jcpenney. com and then sephora. ca.

Georgi Enthoven: Okay, great. Well, I have loved hearing your story and your wisdom and thank you so much for being on the podcast and I look forward to keeping in touch with you.

Jenn Harper: Amazing. Thank you for having me.

Georgi Enthoven: Yeah. Thank you. Bye. Bye. I want to share two things that have stuck with me after this interview with Jen. The first is the seven generations principle. It’s such a powerful. Way to think about business of how you’re going to be impacting the world for the next hundred and fifty years with the [00:26:00] decisions You’re making today And I just wondered what if more business started to ask that question and at least acknowledge their impact or projected impact both positive and negative The second is this reality check on sustainability as Jen shared They are a certified B corporation and I appreciate Jen telling us It’s the reality of selling products that are mission driven.

What consumers say they want is still unfortunately different to how they act. This puts an extra challenge on brands that are playing by a higher standard. And they’re not only competing on quality and price, but also on top of that, how to be sustainable and mission driven. To that point, Jen shared how her B Corp status is less about gaining like minded customers for now, unfortunately.

But rather, she’s using it as a roadmap and benchmark for improvement. And I found this insight really valuable. And that’s a wrap for today’s episode of Work That’s Worth It. Remember, every [00:27:00] conversation we share is designed to empower you to build a career that’s truly worth your time and energy. There are future disruptors out there just like you who would appreciate the conversations in this podcast.

Please support me by spreading the word and sharing this episode with a friend or two or visit my website at georgienthoven.com. That’s spelled G E O R G I E N T H O V E N dot com. Until next time, ask yourself, what problems am I solving and are they worth my valuable time? Your intentional choices today can lead to exponential impact tomorrow.

Thanks for listening!