I always knew that LilyBee would be a different kind of business. I had just fallen pregnant at the time we launched, so it was even more important for me to do something that would benefit future generations. My ethos was always that the product must work as well, if not better than a ‘regular’ one – it must stand the test of time. It also needed to be fun and benefit other people’s lives, as well as our planet’s. That's one of the reasons LilyBee inspires us so much. It elevates an everyday experience to one of beauty, and one of meaning. By surrounding ourselves with beauty and these small acts of self-care, we can bring more richness to our lives. Because joy shouldn't be saved for vacations and special events. We deserve to experience joy and meaning every day! It’s this approach that has led our business decisions. Coming from the states where the B Corp movement is bigger, it has always been on my radar and we’d taken inspiration from it from day 1, despite at the beginning feeling very far away from certification! We even did an assessment early on in the business – and it was safe to say – we had some work to do..!
In case you haven’t heard of B Corp, it’s a global accreditation that certifies companies based on how they create value for non-shareholding stakeholders such as employees, the local community and the environment. It’s a rigorous standard that requires recertification, and for the business to constantly be evolving – if you don’t evolve, you’ll be left behind. The process itself – while incredibly rigouros – actually helped us solidify our thinking and commit it to paper. We were already in line with many of the B Corp values, which was assuring! But it was really about being accountable and not just paying lip service to words like sustainability or social enterprise. It’s about hard choices and real actions that affect real people.
We’ll pause here to say – we are not perfect! So much of what we do is driven by our values and ethos, but we know we can do more. The point is not only are we committed to using our business as a vehicle for change – we are doing something about it too. Small steps can lead to big changes, and our B Corp certification is the ultimate example of this. Over the past few years we have made many both small and powerful changes in the business, which include moving from conventional cotton to organic, getting our entire workforce on a living wage, and putting a Board of governors in place. To have our commitments to people and planet 3rd party verified and recognized makes me so proud.
We are interested in redefining success in business, moving away from strictly numbers on a balance sheet. I value wellness as one of our biggest currencies – in and out of the business. My team will attest to the fact that I operate on a high trust model, and during some of tougher months of the years such as lockdown, I trusted everyone to make decisions about working that was right for them. Wellness – whatever that looks like, leads to enjoyment, commitment, meaning and purpose in people’s lives. It’s not a purely transactional relationship. But it still needs to be balanced with financial reality, and sometimes that means making tough decisions. A big conversation we are having at the moment is donating to charity. We made the decision this year to put some of that money back in to other areas of the business, to help it grow in a sustainable way so that we are in a position to donate to the charities we want to. We are no help to anyone if we go out of business.
It's no secret people love LilyBee Wrap, and this certification is for everyone who does! So you know that when you buy a LilyBee you support something that truly matters, something you can really trust. We get emails every day telling us how glad people are to have an alternative to plastic wrap that works so well. That means a lot of homes across the world have made the switch to LilyBee and are reducing their unnecessary reliance on single-use plastic. We are excited that so many people have made the switch, and so grateful to have you all a part of our journey – here’s to changing to world together, one small step at a time!