Beauty Boss Jennifer Norman started Humanist Beauty, part of The Human Beauty Movement (The HBM), a purpose-driven company on a mission to support inclusion, wellness, and sustainability in the beauty industry and beyond. Jennifer wanted to create a brand that was positioned as better skin care for better humans while standing for radical inclusivity. Read on more to find out about her story:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and why you started Humanist Beauty?
My name is Jennifer Norman, I’m the Founder & Chief Human Officer of The Human Beauty Movement and Humanist Beauty skincare. After working 20+ years in the beauty industry for many brands across various categories, I now consider myself a reformed beauty marketer. I take ownership and responsibility for the detrimental impact that beauty industry practices have had on the economy, society, the environment, and the mental/emotional wellness of individuals. I created The Human Beauty Movement to be a platform where core values of humanity, radical inclusivity, wellness, and sustainability could be championed and activated. I introduced Humanist Beauty as a manifestation of those values.
Humanist Beauty is positioned as better skin care for better humans. I carefully design formulas to respect life, ancient wisdom, and the earth’s natural elements. Herban Wisdom Facial Oil, for example, is pure wellness in a bottle. It’s 100% vegan, Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free, EWG Verified, 100% plant potent, non-GMO, dye-free, artificial fragrance-free, and preservative-free. It is rich with full-spectrum whole hemp CBD, adaptogens, antioxidants, and concentrated botanical lipids that are so efficacious for nourishing, conditioning, and balancing the skin. Additionally, the packaging is virtually plastic-free and composed of highly recyclable materials. We operate a carbon-neutral business and give 3% of total gross revenues back to charity.
What does it mean to be a B Corp Certified brand?
Being B Corp Certified is a confirmation of an organization’s ability to meet the highest level of positive social and environmental impact. It’s a commitment to doing business in a way that honors people and the planet, not just profits. Due to the extreme rigor of becoming B Corp Certified, it’s considered the gold standard for verification that a business is truly operating as a force for good.
I’m proud to say that The Human Beauty Movement / Humanist Beauty has been B Corp Certified since July 2020. Since many business owners are interested in learning more about how to become B Corp Certified, I’ll share a brief overview of the process here. After completing a highly detailed business assessment and receiving a qualifying score, I entered a waiting period. My business was brand new, and a business must be active at least one year old to proceed to the vetting stage. After my business’ one-year mark, I was asked to submit copious amounts of documentation to substantiate the responses of the B Corp assessment, including governing documents, legal status, financial documents, vendor selection, employee policies, labor practices, alternative energy usage, waste management, customer service documents, organic formula composition, and much more. After the documentation is reviewed, a series of interviews comes next. If a company successfully clears the entire process, it then can qualify to become B Corp certified. There are tiered fees involved based upon revenues. The certification process must take place every three years with escalating assessment grades for its certification to be renewed or it may lose certification.
If your business is truly committed to making the world a better place, then the B Corp Certification process is totally worth it. The B Corp community is like a family. We network and support each other because we know when good businesses succeed, the whole world wins.
Can you tell us a bit more about the process and from where your source your CBD?
I did a deep dive years ago into learning about CBD when I was researching solutions for my son’s seizures. As a person who previously bought into all the bad publicity about cannabis, my eyes were opened to the extent of the misinformation about it. I learned how incredibly beneficial cannabinoids can be to the entire body, including the skin. Of course, being in the beauty industry, the benefits to the skin really caught my attention, and so I knew that if I was going to introduce my own brand, the first products would include CBD.
I believe that plants hold intelligence that humans are just beginning to appreciate. But when we process and preserve, we essentially kill off a lot of that raw, natural goodness. That’s why I’m such a stickler about the sourcing and processing of each ingredient that goes into my formulas, particularly the cannabinoids. There are unfortunately many vendors out there that don’t respect or handle plants as they should.
I obtain my CBD from US vendors that work directly with farmers in Colorado and Oregon that grow their hemp using organic cultivating practices and extract using supercritical CO2 processes. I formulate with full-spectrum whole hemp for a greater chance of offering the entourage effect of benefits. I also include pure CBD isolate for additional potency. All finished formulas contain <0.3% THC in accordance with federal regulations. It is also important to know that I triple-test my cannabinoids at three separate independent labs for quality, potency, purity, accuracy, and consistency. I would say the level of care I put into my formulas is second to none.
What does it mean to be a #beautyboss?
The industry person would say that a #beautyboss is someone who is either a beauty expert, brand leader, or beauty business owner. From that regard, anyone from Hyram to Pat McGrath to Leonard Lauder would be considered #beautybosses. But to me personally, I consider every human to be a #beautyboss because everyone is truly the boss of his or her own beauty. No one else is. My role in all of this is to bring out the #beautyboss in each individual. I want humans to recognize their own true beauty and power so that they really know themselves, accept themselves, and love themselves for who they are and who they are not. When humans love themselves, they will be better able to love others. And that’s when beauty thrives and flourishes.
Don’t forget to check out their brand here: https://humanistbeauty.com/
