August is Black Business Month. Throughout the month we are spotlighting business owners of colour who run their operations with environmental sensibilities and sustainability in mind. Today we talked with Denisha “Dinn” Stephenson to discuss her beauty brand Glow’rious Routine and what they’re doing to stay green.

Glow’rious Routine is a skincare beauty product developed with an emphasis on meeting the needs of every skin type and complexion in an eco-friendly way.

Denisha “Dinn” Stephenson, founder of *Glow’rious Routine*.

Denisha “Dinn” Stephenson launched Glow’rious Routine to find a solution to a gap she noticed in the beauty industry. Dinn sought a high-quality beauty line formulated with her complexion in mind, allowing for easy-to-maintain routines, all while keeping eco-friendly sensibilities top of mind.

“Glow’rious Routine is an eco-friendly, clean product line that's for everybody. When I initially started, it was important to find something that was sensitive enough for the skin but also effective and strong enough as if you were going into a spa and getting a facial done. And it was important for me to make sure that it was Canadian-based and to keep it at home, especially during the peak of COVID when it was first created. Community and job-creation was something I wanted to focus on when starting Glow’rious Routine,” said Dinn.

Dinn feels that environmentally-conscious businesses must be a beauty industry standard. Glow’rious Routine’s production is all based locally to eliminate negative environmental impacts from unnecessary shipping and to facilitate job growth at home. All the manufacturers, packagers, and suppliers are based locally and anytime Glow’rious Routine needs to use packaging they ensure the materials are recyclable. For her part, Dinn is always on the front foot of seeking out new ways to eliminate waste, trying to eliminate packing altogether, and listening to advice on how she can make her business even more sustainable. What’s more, each time a product is purchased from Glow'rious Routine they plant a tree.

“Being able to give back to the One Tree Planted organization, so every time you buy a product a tree is planted, is near and dear to my heart. I think it's important as a company to give back whatever you use. The cosmetic industry uses so many trees,” Dinn said.

Dinn developed her skincare products as a necessity to address gaps in the industry she experienced firsthand. As a young woman, she developed acne outbreaks in her mid-20s, and with a host of allergies, her options were limited. On top of that many mainstream formulations under-represented people of colour. Finding a skincare option that ticked those boxes and used responsible environmental practices was impossible. The product Dinn was looking for didn’t exist, so she developed it herself.

“Helping other people combat acne was something I wanted to do but I was scared. I thought ‘why would anyone want to listen to me?’ But when I got close to my 30th birthday, I wrote a list of everything I wanted to do in the next 10 to 15 years, and developing this business was at the top of my list. These products worked wonders for me and I was sure other people would be interested in experiencing the same thing.

And we want to help make responsible environmental practices a beauty industry standard. We do care about the planet and it’s so important for us to give back and make sure we're sustainable and we're conscious in every aspect,” said Dinn.