Beauty Independent is expanding its In Conservation webinar platform with Spotlight programming taking deep dives into topics of interest to the beauty industry.
The Spotlight programming will launch on Oct. 2 with a four-part series on sustainability. The episodes are being supported by Iggesund Paperboard, the leading European paperboard manufacturer, and they will outline key sustainability considerations, and closely examine the pros and cons of various packaging materials. They’ll wrap up with a glance at the future of eco-friendly beauty product packaging.
Sustainability expert Neal Haussel, director of strategic business development and sustainability at Iggesund, hopes the series will empower beauty brand founders to critically assess the impacts of their packaging choices. “Far and away, the most pressing environmental issue of the day is climate change,” he says. “Iggesund’s hope for the series is to encourage brand owners to make truly sustainable choices by learning to view their packaging solutions through the lens of climate impact.”
Nader Naeymi-Rad, co-founder of Beauty Independent parent company Indie Beauty Media Group, looks forward to working with Iggesund to bring this topic to life. “Iggesund shares our vision that the best way to affect positive change towards a more sustainable future is to educate and motivate those people who are driving change in our industry, e.g., beauty entrepreneurs,” says the host of the Beauty Independent In Conservation webinars. “With Iggesund’s support, we will be able to develop and deliver a best-in-class education for beauty entrepreneurs and ensure that it is free to view for everyone in our community.”
Beauty Independent introduced webinars to provide beauty entrepreneurs with educational resources as the pandemic disrupted business in unprecedented ways. Since the webinar platform kicked off on April 15, it’s evolved into a signature content forum for the indie beauty business news publication. Weekly webinars have provided a stage for a wide range of trusted voices to shed light on an industry in the midst of rapid change. They’ve covered investment, retail and wellness, among several subjects.
However, the regular webinars run an hour and a half, and Naeymi-Rad believes there’s value in exploring topics over longer periods. He says, “As we spoke to our audience and panelists, we learned that, while our weekly roundtable format worked well, it was not sufficient for tackling larger topics that ideally needed to be broken into smaller segments.”
The Spotlight concept was tested during an episode called “Beyond Inclusivity” earlier this summer. During the episode, Black brand founders and beauty industry veterans discussed how the beauty industry can better meet the needs of Black consumers and entrepreneurs. Naeymi-Rad interpreted its success as confirmation that the Beauty Independent audience is hungry for further investigation into specific topics.
Each multipart Spotlight series will zero in on a major issue facing beauty entrepreneurs today, from sustainability to product commercialization.“The multi-episode format allows us to break big topics into smaller and more digestible sub-topics, and also enables us to gather the right experts for each sub-topic,” says Naeymi-Rad. “This approach makes the content more accessible for the audience and also enables us to expand the number of experts and industry thought leaders we can bring to our audience.”
Tiila Abbitt, founder of Aether Beauty and a participant in a recent webinar on conscious beauty, feels the In Conversation webinars highlight subject matters central to indie entrepreneurs and the beauty community at large. “Speaking on the webinar about the conscious beauty movement was not only incredibly thought provoking, but was produced with such great research and style,” she says. “I’ve found these conversations to be groundbreaking for the beauty industry and, if you work in that industry, it’s the No. 1 series that you should be paying attention to.”
On Oct. 2 at 1 pm EST, the first installment of the four-part Spotlight series is entitled “Understanding Sustainability.” The launch of Spotlight programming will be coupled with a refreshed In Conversation website. The upgrade speaks to Beauty Independent’s continued commitment to the webinar platform.
“Beauty Independent is dedicated to the belief that the independent beauty industry deserves consistent and thorough coverage,” says Rachel Brown, editor in chief of the indie beauty business publication. “Our expansion to the webinar platform comes from that same ethos.”
Register here to listen to the first Spotlight webinar.
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