Fellow Beauty Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners and Beauty Professionals

As an entrepreneur, nothing makes me more uncomfortable than feeling helpless. Like you, I have an entrepreneurial mindset: I plan for different outcomes. I build contingency plans. And like you, I could never have predicted this. 

Every day, the world wakes up to a barrage of bad news: shut-downs, quarantines, market crashes, cutbacks, closures and layoffs. Deep inside, many of us fear that the worst is yet to come.  For those of us running small businesses, life was hard before COVID-19, now it’s reaching a whole new level of impossible.  

What we have learned over the past few weeks is that this pandemic shows the least mercy to those most vulnerable, and in the business world, that is us: small business owners and entrepreneurs. Every day, we are forced to sit and watch, helpless, as our business—often our life’s work—gets pummeled, completely defenseless. 

But at our core, I believe that we are optimists. We see opportunities where others see only obstacles. 

While we acknowledge that this pandemic—and the challenges it presents—is like nothing we have faced before, we also know that there is tremendous power in the collective, especially when it’s comprised of innovative thinkers. Alone, we are individual small business owners. Together, we are the largest network of indie beauty brand founders, buyers and industry experts in the world. Alone, we have limited resources. Together, if we pool our resources, we can create new opportunities and new reasons to be hopeful. Alone, we fight for what’s ours. Together, we fight for what’s right. 

There’s never been more evidence that we’re truly in this together. 

That’s why today, Indie Beauty Media Group will take the first step in rallying beauty entrepreneurs and associated beauty professionals under the banner of #BeautyUnites campaign.  We declare that in these unprecedented times, it is solidarity and community which will aid us.  We declare that together, we can prevail. As part of #BeautyUnites, we ask everyone to contribute anything they can, from news, insights, knowledge, know-how or connections to the campaign.

For its part, IBMG is launching the Beauty Unites Resource Center, which goes live Tuesday, March 24.  The Indie Unite Resource Center will house several types of content in one place that will help entrepreneurs stay afloat during these turbulent times, from breaking news and original reporting around COVID-19 and its economic effects, to educational brand-building tools, and providing links to new and changing guidelines.  

Current Offerings Available Through the Beauty Unites Resource Center:

1. Complimentary access to news and original content pertaining to COVID-19 from Beauty Independent.
2. Complimentary access to select Beauty Independent “Core Concepts” and “Premium Content” articles. 
3. Content roundups pertaining to COVID-19 coverage from other publications.
4. A virtual “IBE Berlin” webinar for registered buyers. 
5. Complimentary 30-day subscription to the BeautyX Replay library.
6. Complimentary access to the Uplink Directory
7. Roundups of other helpful resources such as state guidelines, CDC briefings, and small business relief options.

IBMG is putting the call out to other organizations to stand with this community by providing access to content and resources free of charge either through the Beauty Unites Resource Center or via their own websites.  We invite everyone to open up and support the beauty community at this time. We aim to provide the spark, but we are counting on others to act quickly and build on what we have started. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or where you live, we are all in this together.

If you have any relevant news, stories, offers or resources, please email beautyunites@beautyindependent.com with a link and description of what you care to share and, if deemed relevant, we will post it on the Resource Center.  At the same time, you are welcome to share anything you’d like on social media and use the hashtag #IndieBeautyUnite.

Stay informed. Stay optimistic. Stay in the fight.  

Nader Naeymi-Rad
Co-Founder, Indie Beauty Media Group