Speaking openly with courage

Hey Boss,

I struggled before sitting down to write this week's blogpost because it's a little deeper than usual.  I am hoping that you will excuse the personal nature of this week's post and that when you make it to the end, you will understand why I thought it was an important discussion to tackle.

Last week, I didn't write a blogpost.  It was rather early in the year and I took the prior weekend off (by myself) to sit by the beach in Half Moon Bay, CA and reflect on the tumultuous year that 2020 was.  For our weekly #wisdomwednesday newsletter, I mentioned this in the paragraph below:

In response, a single customer wrote back and suggested that the newsletter was political and partisan and questioned my seriousness about selling cosmetics.  It's now Monday and I am still wrestling with how to think about her email and what it means for my actions going forward.  To question my personal commitment to the success of the business because I have linked my joy at the inauguration (and peaceful transition of power) tells me that I may have not done a good enough job at the WHO, WHAT, and WHY of Bossy Cosmetics or that people really didn't take in the impact of the events of January 6, 2021.  

I'll focus on the former and leave the latter to what ever divine being you ascribe your faith to.

I have said publicly, on several occasions, and thought it might be useful to repeat in this blogpost that I characterize Bossy Cosmetics as a women's empowerment mission-driven brand that masquerades as a beauty company. Selling high-quality beauty products is merely one way that we live out our vision, which is to ignite confidence in ambitious women.  We are relentless in our mission to empower women to look, feel, and do good in the world.

So what does this have to do with politics and party? Great question.

Our newly minted Vice President is a woman, a person of color, and to be specific - Black and South Asian.  Her existence as the Vice President is the absolute typification of shattering the glass ceiling.  America has never managed to have a female President nor Vice President and now we have the first one AND she is multi-racial which is such a beautiful depiction of the way our world is.  Forget about party and forget the recent attempted coup - we MUST celebrate Kamala D. Harris.  She is the FIRST and will not be the last.  THIS IS MAY-JAH.

This is EXACTLY what we do at Bossy Cosmetics, we celebrate and amplify the success of women.  Period.

We encourage one another to level up in our careers and professional pursuits, it is why we created Beauty Meets Wisdom. Period. 

We have adopted the name "Bossy" to reclaim a negative term so that women and girls understand that their voices should be heard.  Period.

We make stunning cosmetics in the hopes that when adorned, women will feel energized to achieve every goal ahead of them. Period.

This is the brand that I have built and continue to build with my blood, sweat, and tears.  There have been a whole of tears too! I will never make apologies for using what little platform I have to do exactly that.  I look to great brands like Patagonia, Nike, Ben & Jerry's, and Dr. Bronner's, at how they use their platform to speak about the most important issues of our time.  I emulate them.

This is what I am building and I will speak passionately about issues that mean a lot to me especially if I believe they are pertinent to share with the community.  I will always go beyond the black square. Please expect more realness from me in the coming months and years (if we are so fortunate to operate into the future!) and I appreciate your constructive feedback.

I'd like to thank the people who purchased our limited run of t-shirts that read "I LOVE AN AMBITIOUS WOMAN" on them.  They were a hit as you can see below.

 

This is a note from Twitter from a Bossy customer, Lexi!  She and her family were celebrating Kamala D. Harris on inauguration day wearing our t-shirts!

 

This is my beloved oldest son, Emeka, who asked me to buy one for him and he loves to wear it!

 

 This is my mom.  My chief supporter!

This is Leslie Rubin! 

This is me and my ever supportive husband, Ngozi.  He literally is the wind beneath my wings.

 

Thank you for making it this far in the blogpost.  If you feel strongly about it, please send me a note at aishetu@bossybeauty.com.

Warm regards,

aisha xx