Why This Canadian Perfume Firm Is Taking On Interval Poverty

For Barbara Stegemann, working a enterprise has by no means actually simply been about being profitable. A lot in order that she didn’t pay herself for years, after beginning her enterprise. Relatively the revenue is a automobile to push for higher fairness.

Stegemann began The 7 Virtues, a fragrance firm, over a decade in the past earlier than the time period “clear magnificence” had gone mainstream. Now, her product is bought in Sephora places throughout the US and Canada. Although the inspiration for the corporate and its flagship product got here from farmers in Afghanistan, in search of an alternate supply of earnings whereas dwelling in a battle (and even submit battle) state, Stegemann has broadened the scope to incorporate components from around the globe. What began with the orange blossoms and rose oils from one Afghan farmer (and thus, helped create the corporate’s tagline, Make Fragrance, Not Battle) has snowballed into a complete line of fragrances with scents simply as patchouli, jasmine, and vetiver thoughtfully sourced from around the globe in an effort to profit growers and producers — be it from Rwanda, Haiti, India, or elsewhere.

This 12 months, the corporate has a brand new launch, the Lotus Pear, a perfume designed to completely rejoice ladies and produce to mild an underreported subject — interval poverty. Nonetheless utilizing natural, truthful commerce important oils, this perfume has develop into symbolic for Stegemann as she deepens her entrepreneurial journey, and learns in regards to the on a regular basis challenges ladies face globally. By partnering with Days for Ladies, gross sales of the Lotus Pear perfume will assist 700 ladies and younger ladies in Nepal and supply entry to menstruation merchandise for them.

“The dearth of easy assets for girls around the globe throughout their intervals simply frankly shocked me,” Stegemann says. “Even in in the present day’s age, we’re nonetheless struggling to get these fundamentals!”

After studying from the non-profit Days for Ladies, Stegemann determined to align her firm with the trigger. Although this launch hones in on supporting ladies in Nepal particularly, she’s obsessed with taking it a lot additional. “That is just the start,” she says.

Stegemman has a considerably distinctive motto she lives by: “Get mad, take a shower, have a nap, after which get mad once more.”

She’s mad this time not solely about ladies not having pads and tampons, however the stigmas that include a menstruating interval — she can’t eat along with her household, she can’t work, she can’t go to highschool. Relying on what nook of the world the lady is in, there are cultural practices that menstruating ladies nonetheless observe. This, she argues, retains ladies from pursing their goals and sometimes, continues to maintain them confined to their properties.

Whereas she admits she’s not the professional on interval poverty, she sees it as an important subject and one which her firm can get behind wholeheartedly. Girls are on the core of her personal firm, she explains, working with a primarily feminine workforce. “We’ve got to concentrate to the wants of ladies as a society, assist them develop, and actually hearken to their wants.”