Date: June 11th, 2020
We emphatically stand with the Black community and unite in the rallying cry that Black Lives Matter. The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others have brought necessary conversations to the forefront, addressing a painful history of injustice and racism in our country.
As we watch events unfolding across the country, our hearts are heavy, and we feel a renewed drive to do more to support the Black community. This is a reality check—we must do better. What we are witnessing now has the power to drive both a personal and national awakening that can bring about dramatic changes in very short periods of time. We hope it will lead to the kind of permanent ideological rethinking of our most basic habits and thoughts, and ultimately, align our actions as people to bring real and lasting change to America.
At Saalt, our mission is to empower and equip people to live their element and change lives. Core to that mission is the conviction that all people are intrinsically connected by the life-giving cycles of menstruation without partiality to race, faith, color, or nationality. That means whether we're promoting menstrual or racial equity, we are committed to using our platform as a brand to amplify underserved voices and using our resources to fight social stigmas and injustice in all its forms.
This week, we've explored honest and emotional discussions as a team to address how we can use our resources to help make meaningful progress for the Black Lives Matter movement and the individuals who suffer at the hands of racism. As a B Corp, our team is fundamentally driven to use our business as a force for good and support a diverse and inclusive economy. Anthea Kelsick, Co-CEO of B Lab U.S. & Canada said, "We cannot credibly build an inclusive economic system without addressing the fundamental injustice, inequity, and violence that disproportionately impacts Black people and other People of Color." We applaud and join the B Corp Community in creating a space to engage and share resources to fuel change. In order to truly change systemic racism and have equal representation, workplaces must take a leading role in pushing the conversation forward.
Here's where we've decided to start.
Silencing to Amplify
Last week, we began by silencing our day-to-day posts and marketing to allow Black voices to be amplified and heard. This week, we commit to #AmplifyMelanatedVoices, Black-owned wellness brands, and a growing list of additional resources to help educate on how to end racial inequality.
Educating Our Team
This week, employees at Saalt will take part in a workplace webinar called Whiteness at Work by Desiree Adaway. We will also be hosting implicit bias training for current team members and incorporating key takeaways into our onboarding process for new employees to encourage open, honest conversations surrounding race that equip us to carry out our commitment to diversity.
Diversifying Company Representation
Inclusion and diversity are important parts of our internal discussions and planning at Saalt, no matter gender identity or race. While we are cognizant of this in our outward-facing representation, this movement forced us to pause and look inward. We're falling short in diversity within our Saalt team. As a start-up, we relied on team referrals and applicants within our local community. We currently are a small team of 27, comprising 89% female-identifying and 11% male-identifying. Our team's ethnic make-up is 71% White, 15% Latinx, 7% Asian/Pacific Islander, 3.5% Black, 3.5% identified as other. Moving forward we will be more proactive in our talent search by posting jobs to diversity.com, blackcareernetwork.com, EOP career center, and sharing openings with local university NAACP chapters. We want to make it publicly known that we value diversity and commit to improve as we grow. We will do better.
Using Our Dollars to Take a Stand
During the month of June 2020, Saalt will match your donations dollar for dollar up to $20,000 to these three Black-founded American organizations[1]:
Code2College - Founded by Matt Stephenson, a Wharton MBA graduate, Code2College is a 501c3 that focuses on dramatically increasing the number of traditionally underrepresented high school students who enter and excel in technical undergraduate majors and careers. 76% of their beneficiaries identify as Black, Hispanic, or Native American, and 53% identify as female.
Loveland Foundation - Founded by Rachel Cargle (@rachel.cargle), a writer and activist, the Loveland Foundation is a 501c3 that provides therapy for Black women and girls.
Color of Change - The nation's largest online racial justice organization, Color of Change is a 501c4 that works to create a more human and less hostile world for all people in America by shining a light into darkness and fighting the battles of the victims of racial injustice.
To have your donation matched, please send us a screenshot of your donation receipt to saaltgives@saalt.com.
We stand in solidarity, we speak in solidarity, we act in solidarity, and we invite you to stand, speak, and act with us.
Cherie Hoeger
Saalt Co-Founder & CEO
[1]This donation is taking place during June 2020. If you want to learn more about Saalt's current impact initiatives, visit our Impact page.