Following Anita Roddick's Footsteps - the next cohort of trailblazing women

I had no idea about the history of the Body Shop but growing up in the late 80’s-90’s it was very well known for being a ‘for good’ shop. I first read about this trailblazing woman from Mary Portas and everything about Anita and the growth of the Body Shop has given me some fire in my belly. 

Anita opened her first shop in Brighton in the 70’s. It was between two funeral parlours (!) and had a name that was seen as quirky compared to other shops at the time. She was influenced by the car mechanic garages in America, which all had a 'body shop' next to the garage.   All of the products were natural (some supplied by a young Mark Constantine - now founder of Lush, who was making his own natural products from his tiny home kitchen) and bottles were refillable which was unheard of at the time. Anita was an activist; environmental, animal and human rights - and introduced a ‘social good’ business model to the beauty industry where products were always tested on animals. She paved the way for Fair Trade and only used ingredients from other countries - if those who supplied it were paid properly and in safe conditions. She tirelessly campaigned for companies to be better, be kinder and of course was the leader in banning animal testing. Beyond the shop she set up multiple charities helping people all over the world.

She believed that business should offer a form of moral leadership, being a powerful force in society. She herself was often referred to as a force-of-nature. Body Shop was an extra limb of hers and she often said that if the team didn't share the same values that aligned with her own, then they "should leave and work for Coors Beer". She also wasn't interested in her shareholders. I heard a recording from BBC  Desert Island Discs 1988  and she said that money means nothing more to her than being able to pay the bills. She stated that she isn't a lady of leisure and what makes her feel successful is seeing how far she can take an idea. 

Anita Roddick believed that businesses should offer a form of moral leadership, being a powerful force in society. She has paved the way for the next cohort of trailblazing women at the forefront of responsible, better businesses.

In 2007 she sold the Body Shop to L’Oréal; a controversial move but at the time Anita said that the large French company seemed to be generally interested in the Body Shop and wanted to learn from it.  Anita's is heavily criticised for this decision but it did get me thinking about how business owners end up selling. You can't keep a business going forever but then, when the time is to sell, who do you sell it to? I think if a giant company wanted to buy PRIOR and said they were inspired and wanted to use PRIOR to change their global brand for the better, maybe I would be tempted? Maybe I would feel that all my hardwork had finally managed to infiltrate and influence the system. Anita set a clause that she would act as a consultant and help oversea the merge, however in less than a year she died of a severe brain hemorrhage. 

Over the years The Body Shop has been sold three time and each of owner (including L’Oréal)  destroyed Anita's values. Manufacturing was taken to the Philippines and profit became the only important factor. The companies and systems she fought against, ended up being the very thing that bought it to administration today :(

The future of modern retail is radically local, community-driven, and genuinely innovative. And Prior shop is all three. I feel like I need to make sure that I really focus on my values and my integrity as it's evident that without it, things go horribly wrong.