Podcast #15 · Elysse Crabtree · Ethical Beauty, Self Love And Women Empowerment
“We really are demanding better products better standards, better business practices…consumerism is totally changing…. I think that in the next 10-20 years, if businesses are not taking huge measures to be sustainable and incorporating social impact into their business model, I just don’t think they’re going to be around.”
Elysse Crabtree
Elysse is an “Entrepreneur, mentor, and unabashed wanderluster livin’ it up in San Diego, CA”. She is the founder of Wabi-Sabi Botanicals, a luxury, ethical beauty line and ‘Be Led by Love’, a beautiful website about self-love and empowerment. Elysse is passionate about the betterment of women… all women!
Read our article about Elysse’s path to meaning and self-love here.
We caught up with Elysse in California and she graciously shared her approach to business, self-love and women empowerment all over the world. Specifically, we discussed:
- Elysse’s background, growing up in California and her early studies (unrelated to beauty) and her transition to serving others (~01:25)
- How Elysse moved into green beauty and started Wabi-Sabi Botanicals (~03:35)
- Making the transition from full time work to running Wabi-Sabi Botanicals over the course of 2 years (~08:00)
- Wabi-Sabi overview and business mission, including sources and micro loans for women (~10:20)
- Why the focus on women? (~11:50)
- Impact on local underdeveloped communities from women bringing in an income (~12:50)
- Wabi-Sabi’s approach to Kiva Micro Loans for Women (~13:45)
- Stories of impact from the Wabi-Sabi approach in local communities, including Ximenia oil (~16:00)
- Other ingredients in the Wab-Sabi products (~18:45)
- Other important approaches to the beauty industry including cruelty-free and vegan and why natural is important (~22:00)
- Why Wabi-Sabi is named Wabi-Sabi and the underlying ethos behind the brand! (~25:20)
- What most concerns Elysse most about the world today from a people and environment perspective (~28:35)
- Exciting movements of change from Elysse’s perspective, including the power of consumers to drive change through “buycott” (~30:10)
- Role of small and big business in providing small and big business in making change (~35:00)
- Elysse’s “women empowered” series on her blog (~40:40)
- What’s next in 2018 for Elysse and Wabi-Sabi Botanicals (~42:40)
- Advice for making the jump intro entrepreneurship (~44:15)
- Elysse’s approach to self-love and her message to others (~45:30)
- Importance of serving others and how it helps with self-love (~48:30)
- How to find Elysse and Wabi-Sabi online (~51:10)
“We invest 10% of profits into these micro loans for women and it’s really cool because it’s mutual dignity, it’s not giving a handout…we get to invest the same dollar into more lives.”
Elysse Crabtree
