The people who are inspiring me most during this time are the ones who bring all their values to work, blazing trails on their own terms.
Jenn Harper is the founder of Cheekbone Beauty and I love everything about this company. If you want some new lipstick, this is a great place to start because I’ve worn it, it’s gorgeous and my chapped lips feel so smooth (it’s the shea butter).
But know that Cheekbone is bigger than lipstick.
💄💄💄 ATEOD x Cheekbone Beauty giveaway! To enter to win a SUSTAIN lipstick trio before Monday, Mar 29 @ 8 pm ET, read the details here 💄💄💄
Let me tell you about Jenn Harper and her dream.
Jenn Harper, founder of Cheekbone Beauty
Jenn, who is Ojibwe from Northwest Angle 33 First Nation in Ontario, started Cheekbone in her basement after she woke up from a dream in which she saw beautiful, happy little girls “covered in lip gloss.” They were Indigenous, like her.
“I hopped out of bed, grabbed my laptop and just started like, Okay, I’m going to figure out how to make lip gloss,” Jenn says.
In a few short years, she’s built a team, started a lab (she’s out of the basement now!) and is taking her Indigenous-owned and led beauty brand toward her goal of going global.
When we talk about the origins of Jenn’s company, she doesn’t start by telling me about products. She tells me about funding education for Indigenous children. She tells me about her grandmother, a residential school survivor. She tells me that 80% of the world’s biodiversity is being protected by Indigenous communities around the world although Indigenous people make up only 5% of the population.
Her values are wrapped up in education and a brighter future for Indigenous youth as well as sustainability, something she builds into the product itself (her low-waste lipsticks are on track to be zero-waste within two years).
Cheekbone is a life’s worth of experiences and perspective, wrapped into something very positive, beautiful and shareable.
Each purchase supports Shannen’s Dream, an initiative for equity in education for First Nations children and youth.
As Jenn says, “We exist to empower Indigenous youth. There is no other brand with that as their sole purpose.”
I love that energy, of taking a bigger purpose, and plying a trade to get the work done.
How can you not want to buy that lipstick now?
With gratitude to Jenn and her vision, for the inspiration and for working with At The End Of the Day, my own little dream in the making.
My fave shade, Makoc. Visit Cheekbone Beauty and use ATEOD2021 before April 2, 2021 @ 11:59 pm ET for 10% off your purchase.