Sometimes plans are delayed, and when they finally happen it’s perfect timing! In 2020, I wanted to bring back our Valley Girl pink polish for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. It would’ve been in honor and memory of my grandmother, Ruth O Gross, who our family lost to breast cancer in 2007. However, business funds and other projects did not allow me to order the polishes, let alone come up with a whole campaign for breast cancer awareness.
Fast forward to May 2021, I had the vision for the B Aware campaign and knew I wanted and needed help to bring it to life. I reached out to our PoC Beauty Demi, who is a graphic designer and talented with nails/nail art, to see if she would be interested in helping me. Thank God she said yes, because she was my only back up plan 😅
Based on our brand’s audience demographics and the identities our PoC customers have , I wanted to partner with an organization that would benefit from the sale of Valley Girl—one that brought awareness of breast health and breast cancer in younger women to the forefront. We are mainly told to not worry about breast cancer until ages 40 and older; however, more women are being diagnosed at young ages. It was important that People of Color’s messaging for B Aware expressed to our tribe the importance in being aware of how their breasts look and feel.
We found alignment with our mission for the campaign with the Young Survival Coalition, our benefitting partner! During Breast Cancer Awareness month, we sold 110 Valley Girl polishes and donated 30% of sales from each polish, totaling a $400 donation, to the organization!
My heart is full of how the whole campaign came together! During the month, we also hosted four beautiful survivors who shared their stories with us on IG Live.
I want to give a special thank you to our Head of Marketing, Brittinee, who onboarded with us at the beginning of September. She literally had to jump right in with Demi to oversee and launch the campaign in less than a month. Thank you Demi for the awesome work and graphics you put together! I appreciate Dr. Jaclyn, Karla, Jamelle, and Dulce who joined us on IG Live to share their survival stories. Lastly, a secret thank you to the ladies who provided breast imagery for the campaign while rocking Valley Girl on their nails 💕!
Cheers to B Aware 2021, and we look forward to next year’s campaign—and beyond!
Jacque