child trafficking ·
entrepreneur ·
freedom march ·
inspiration ·
one body village canada ·
philanthropy ·
Where it Began/How it’s Going
This is my butt and my balloon (and my best friends’) at 2020’s Day Against Trafficking in Persons. I just found this photo on One Body Village Canada’s website and it has reminded me how far I have come (and how far my highlights had grown out). Despite the Evan Beau products having been in formulation for years prior this photo being taken, it is truly the moment where Evan Beau began.
The Pivot
When I was working with my incredible natural ingredients chemist early on in my entrepreneurial journey, I envisioned my product line to be entirely clean beauty focused, in shiny black packaging and with a luxurious Goop.com feel to it. Insidiously, while the formulation for our serums and foundation were being perfected, my brand vision wasn’t holding true to my heart, and I had to reboot; I was being consumed by newfound information about a very old ‘trade’ called Child Trafficking. As a female entrepreneur at the helm with two young kids at home, it’s not easy to create a “brand” without injecting some of yourself into it. I am part of my own target demographic, and found it difficult not to be guided by my own feelings, beliefs, intuition, and self. In the end it was the brand name and essence that deserved the spotlight; Evan Beau was named after my first born son (my subsequent second pregnancy and daughter came after the trademarking, ok!?) and I needed to stay true to that path of love, goodness, purity, and our shared future, that his name beared. The fact that our products are clean, effective and made in North America without controversial ingredients remains true, but their power now belongs to the cause that they support.
The Rally
The year was 2020 and like everyone around the world, being glued to the home base, family, and smart phones became vital. This also meant an exponential increase in child exploitation via the internet. I was shared a story of what was referred to as child trafficking, which I had previously not heard of (listened to maybe, but not heard) that now resonated in my brain and stomach like an iron bell. I spoke to my girlfriend @perfectlypowdered about it. She started looking for more information, and wondered why this wasn’t being talked about more openly, and we both fell down a rabbit hole. Some of the information was fabricated and not proven to be true, and much of the true information was buried. But in the end, the fact remained that children were being sold for profit for sex, labour, and less often, organs. My girlfriend and I jumped at the chance when we heard that this year was the first ever Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which was a worldwide event held in different cities organizing rallies to raise awareness. The turn-out in Toronto was decent, around 75 people, and it was neat to meet others who were also passionate about this issue. But, surprisingly, no media or press (unlike on National Donut Day). Members of organizations who support child rights or whom actively fight human trafficking were there and spoke to our small crowd. It was a very emotional afternoon. Angela was our contact for the event, who had organized it and given out blue freedom balloons for us all to hold to bring attention to the cause as we marched the downtown streets. When she spoke about One Body Village Canada, the organization she is President of, and of the rescues and rehabilitations of children as young as FOUR years old that had been done in conjunction with her charity, I knew I had found an ally and an organization worthy of attention and dollars to help it thrive.
As a mother, and decent human being, I didn’t want to bring myself to imagine the atrocities that other humans were doing to children. Like, really little children. But I did let my mind go there. And I didn’t sleep properly for weeks on end. I considered quitting beauty altogether and crusading for those lost and without a voice, and to bring awareness to the millions of people currently ‘living’ in modern slavery. Suddenly the liposome delivery system in our serums was seeming less and less important, because if I had to choose between looking good and saving a child, I would choose the latter everytime. But I soon realized that wasn’t a choice I was being forced to make. In fact, I could use the love of cosmetics and beauty’s natural magnetism to help save these children. Evan Beau now made perfect sense.
$1 from every product purchased on evanbeau.com goes directly to the girls (and much more rarely, boys) being cared for emotionally, psychologically and physically in One Body Village safe homes in Vietnam and Cambodia. The organization also works in conjunction with other non-profits in the area to prevent trafficking through education and vocational training, which decrease risk factors that make trafficking more likely. As Evan Beau grows, so will our outreach to end child trafficking in our lifetime.
The Pivot
When I was working with my incredible natural ingredients chemist early on in my entrepreneurial journey, I envisioned my product line to be entirely clean beauty focused, in shiny black packaging and with a luxurious Goop.com feel to it. Insidiously, while the formulation for our serums and foundation were being perfected, my brand vision wasn’t holding true to my heart, and I had to reboot; I was being consumed by newfound information about a very old ‘trade’ called Child Trafficking. As a female entrepreneur at the helm with two young kids at home, it’s not easy to create a “brand” without injecting some of yourself into it. I am part of my own target demographic, and found it difficult not to be guided by my own feelings, beliefs, intuition, and self. In the end it was the brand name and essence that deserved the spotlight; Evan Beau was named after my first born son (my subsequent second pregnancy and daughter came after the trademarking, ok!?) and I needed to stay true to that path of love, goodness, purity, and our shared future, that his name beared. The fact that our products are clean, effective and made in North America without controversial ingredients remains true, but their power now belongs to the cause that they support.
The Rally
The year was 2020 and like everyone around the world, being glued to the home base, family, and smart phones became vital. This also meant an exponential increase in child exploitation via the internet. I was shared a story of what was referred to as child trafficking, which I had previously not heard of (listened to maybe, but not heard) that now resonated in my brain and stomach like an iron bell. I spoke to my girlfriend @perfectlypowdered about it. She started looking for more information, and wondered why this wasn’t being talked about more openly, and we both fell down a rabbit hole. Some of the information was fabricated and not proven to be true, and much of the true information was buried. But in the end, the fact remained that children were being sold for profit for sex, labour, and less often, organs. My girlfriend and I jumped at the chance when we heard that this year was the first ever Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which was a worldwide event held in different cities organizing rallies to raise awareness. The turn-out in Toronto was decent, around 75 people, and it was neat to meet others who were also passionate about this issue. But, surprisingly, no media or press (unlike on National Donut Day). Members of organizations who support child rights or whom actively fight human trafficking were there and spoke to our small crowd. It was a very emotional afternoon. Angela was our contact for the event, who had organized it and given out blue freedom balloons for us all to hold to bring attention to the cause as we marched the downtown streets. When she spoke about One Body Village Canada, the organization she is President of, and of the rescues and rehabilitations of children as young as FOUR years old that had been done in conjunction with her charity, I knew I had found an ally and an organization worthy of attention and dollars to help it thrive.
As a mother, and decent human being, I didn’t want to bring myself to imagine the atrocities that other humans were doing to children. Like, really little children. But I did let my mind go there. And I didn’t sleep properly for weeks on end. I considered quitting beauty altogether and crusading for those lost and without a voice, and to bring awareness to the millions of people currently ‘living’ in modern slavery. Suddenly the liposome delivery system in our serums was seeming less and less important, because if I had to choose between looking good and saving a child, I would choose the latter everytime. But I soon realized that wasn’t a choice I was being forced to make. In fact, I could use the love of cosmetics and beauty’s natural magnetism to help save these children. Evan Beau now made perfect sense.
$1 from every product purchased on evanbeau.com goes directly to the girls (and much more rarely, boys) being cared for emotionally, psychologically and physically in One Body Village safe homes in Vietnam and Cambodia. The organization also works in conjunction with other non-profits in the area to prevent trafficking through education and vocational training, which decrease risk factors that make trafficking more likely. As Evan Beau grows, so will our outreach to end child trafficking in our lifetime.
