The Power of Mentorship: Welcoming the Girls of Step Up

“Do you know who this is?” Jill Scalamandre, President of bareMinerals, asked a room full of high school girls last Tuesday at our headquarters. A few of them laughed, nodding their heads, while a chorus said “Yessss!” In front of them all, Jill was pointing to an image of bareMinerals Clean Beauty Ambassador Hailey Bieber. “She’s so nice guys,” Jill shared. From that moment on, the students in the room were completely captivated.

Jill went on to explain why philanthropy is at the heart of bareMinerals. “We really want to help young women realize their dreams and their potential,” she said. It’s the reason we invited students involved with Step Up, one of our philanthropic partners, for a day of mentorship. The event supported Step Up’s mission to inspire teen girls in under-invested neighborhoods through after-school and mentorship programs with professional women — one of the 3 pillars of The Power of Good Fund by bareMinerals.

The girls started their day with a tour of the bareMinerals NYC office, where they learned about all the working parts of a beauty brand. After Jill welcomed everyone, students paired up with bareMinerals volunteers for a marketing-focused activity. Each group ideated new clean beauty products — from dreaming up product names to executing marketing plans. “This is the fun part,” said Meg Lerner, Vice President of Global Brand Marketing. “This is the part where you can get creative.”

But the beauty industry isn’t just about marketing, as they soon found out. To wrap up the day, each student sat down for a “speed networking” activity with bareMinerals employees from all different departments. Here, they were able to practice their interview skills, asking questions about internships, career paths and day-to-day workflow, and sharing their own interests in engineering, programming and more.

By the end of the event, each girl seemed to smile a little bigger, more willing to open up with the mentors around them. As Jill described it, “I like seeing women feel good about themselves.” This day was certainly no exception.

We want to help Step Up spread the word about girls’ mentorship. To empower women through education, mentorship and entrepreneurialism, we will support The Power of Good Fund by bareMinerals by donating 1% of sales from our boutiques and bareMinerals.com to Hopewell Fund.*

*Donations will be made on sales, less any returns or discounts, starting April 1, 2019 through December 31, 2020 and include a minimum contribution of $1,000,000. Hopewell Fund is a 501(c)(3) public charity that specializes in helping donors, social entrepreneurs, and other changemakers launch new, innovative social change projects. 

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