We all want to do something good and give back where and when we can, however, in reality we don’t always get the chance to do this.
For Leonie Henzell, creating beauty’s got soul is all about legacy and human empathy. After selling and exciting Bockers & Pony in 2018, she wanted to focus on a difficult problem in Australia―homelessness.
“I want to do what I can do with my talents and resources to focus on the issue of homelessness,” she says. “I honestly believe that no one in Australia should have to sleep on the street.”
Henzell admits she was never sure what to do when she saw a homeless person and once she had passed them she would get on with her ‘busy’ day. However, a trip to Toronto last year in April really opened her eyes.
“It was the light bulb moment. With light snow and so many homeless people sleeping on the street, it really made me think. With empathy, I find homelessness so sad and highly disturbing.
“So, I came up with this idea to build a ‘for profit for purpose’ business to help the homeless in Australia. Through much research and conversation, I decided to help Simon Rowe and sleepbus.
“Simon Rowe is an entrepreneur and former rough sleeper. I believe that he has created a trust-worthy charitable organisation that ensures that the funds raised go directly to providing impact for the people in need.”
beauty’s got soul is supporting sleepbus by giving a percentage of sales, not profits, to sleepbus.
“I really want to inspire other business owners to ‘do what they can do’ as well. We are in a powerful position as business owners and whilst the contribution may seem small to start, I believe that the impact will grow. What if 10, 100, 1,000 or 10,000 other businesses did this?”
beauty’s got soul exhibited at Life Instyle Melbourne earlier this month, which for Henzell was a no-brainer―as a new company she knew she had to be part of it.
“In my previous business, I used to attend Life Instyle as a buyer for many years. To be surrounded by brands that have unique, high quality, interesting and design led products, is the perfect place to showcase our brand.
“It is also unachievable for a start-up business to target all of these retailers with digital advertising. We met retailers from all over Australia, New Zealand and Asia. People that we would have struggled to meet without exhibiting.
“I also truly believe that business is about developing trust and relationships through connection…. and that happens best in person.”
Her sense is that retailers are always looking for something new, so being a new brand was a great advantage. Sponsoring the bathrooms and setting them up with flowers, handwash and candles was a nice way for retailers to try the product.
“Our ability to share our story authentically was well received. Being cruelty free, vegan, made in Australia and sharing our purpose to help the homeless in Australia, placed us in consideration for retailers looking for a conscious buy.
“We also received great feedback about how we can improve our packaging and different sizes of our products that would work better. People were very open to share their thoughts and we loved that.”
So what’s next for beauty’s got soul? The plan is to develop a new range every six months, commissioning a new artist for the packaging.
“We found a new artist at Life Instyle as well which was awesome. We may even broaden the product range and change some sizes. Being iterative and changing with trends and what retailers and consumers are looking for is our biggest focus. Iterate or die. We are not planning on doing the latter.”
By Marion Gerritsen
