Black Lives Matter / Our Promise to do Better
Before we ever opened our online doors for business, one of the first things we did as a team was write down our core values:
We are friends, moms, and spouses first
We leave our egos aside to grow as a team
We ask for help when we need it
We invest in what we need to
We work to help people grow their businesses
We create to inspire those around us
These values have been our north star; keeping us working towards our big picture goals as well as helping us work through challenges. Because, a business is both nothing without and everything because of its people and their purpose.
We believe that Black Lives Matter and because of that, business cannot continue “as usual.” Business needs to be different moving forward. And, as time passes, we will use these new additions to our core values to guide us:
We will not hesitate to use our platform to advocate for human and political causes
We understand our responsibility to espouse equality in our business, product, partnerships and marketing
And, we know we can do better.
We have always talked about the importance of representing diverse points of view and experiences in our stock photos and it is crystal clear that we have to do more than talk about it—that moving forward, making sure that our photos reflect more than what was easiest to pull together is a non-negotiable.
Because, words are not enough. People need to see themselves in our work. We will do better and today, we are making a commitment to. So, we promise:
To take more time to plan photoshoots in order to feature models other than ourselves and people we know
To collaborate with designers outside of our immediate network so our collections will reflect different points of view
To seek out partners who share similar core values and are making similar commitments
To not stop talking about the fact that equality is at our core and to always have the hard conversations
In addition to these commitments, we also feel it is important to put our money where our mouth is. So, moving forward, 5% of our shop sales will be donated to a charitable cause or community organization. Each month, we will pick a different cause to support and we will use our platform to showcase their work and amplify their voices. If there is a particular organization you would love to see us make a donation to, please contact us!
There is a lot of work to be done and we promise to be a part of the solution. This is just our starting point.
- Tayler, Cassie, Christy, and Jen
