How many of us have said in response to a mishap that it was ‘just one of life’s accidents’? While this is a common phrase, few of us have literally had an accident define life so dramatically as our guest in this episode of Green Beauty Conversations – Eryca Freemantle.
Eryca not only suffered a devastating accident in her early twenties but went on to discover through its aftermath and her long, slow recovery a path in life and an amazing, empowering career in makeup artistry from which has grown a movement and a platform that is a force for others. A life’s work that started out quite literally by accident is now on a mission quite by design to help shape the lives of women of all skin tones as they enter careers or start businesses in the beauty industry.
Formula Botanica CEO, Chartered Environmentalist, biologist and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier caught up with Eryca Freemantle to discuss how her powerful personal story became a catalyst for her motivational, inclusive platform E.A.T.O.W – Embracing All Tones of WoMen (with the capital ‘M’ denoting the inclusion of men too). E.A.T.O.W. offers mentoring, courses, coaching and business strategy as well as runs a Make-up Artist of the Year Award.
Eryca is proof that, to paraphrase Mark Twain, ‘accident is the greatest of all inventors’. From starting with nothing to traveling the world as makeup artist to stars and celebrities such as singers Seal, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson and later as an advisor to the London College of Fashion and the UK’s Prince’s Trust, Eryca is a life force and inspiration for the beauty industry; and a women of her time, helping others in her sector embrace the diversity the industry sorely needs.
Meet our Guest: Eryca Freemantle
Eryca Freemantle has successfully carved out a career as a leading expert, diversity specialist, educator, public speaker, and conscious businesswoman. As a woman of colour, Eryca has played a key role in influencing the makeup, health and well-being arena to rethink their strategies on inclusion; her most notable campaign being the creation of ‘Embracing All Tones of Women’ (E.A.T.O.W.).
Outside of the makeup industry, her interest in education has seen her appointed a governor for a prestigious school in England as well as an ambassador and life coach for the Prince’s Trust. Interviewed by media outlets like Bloomberg TV and Forbes magazine, Eryca is the industry’s go-to for guidance on diversity and beauty strategy. Eryca is a global makeup strategist on a mission to grow and support 10,000 makeup lovers, influencers, artists and businesses in the next three years, helping her clients to build and scale businesses and tap also into their mental health, emotional side and well-being.
@FormulaBotanica podcast talks to @ErycaFreemantle, founder of Empowering All Tones of Women @eatowglobal, outspoken champion of diversity in the beauty industry. #womenofcolor #beautyindustry #eatowglobal Click To Tweet
In this episode on diversity in the beauty industry, you will:
- Hear the inspiring background of a woman who was once a lone voice championing the need for diversity in the beauty industry and who is now a leading spokesperson for those following in her footsteps;
- Discover that out of adversity can come opportunities and that you need to take up their challenge even if you feel you lack confidence or are at an early stage in your career path;
- Find out that true diversity and inclusivity in the beauty industry is about embracing all skin tones equally and throughout the sector; hence E.A.T.O.W’s reasoning in talking about ‘all tones of skin’ rather than solely of women of colour.
- Learn that taking your business to the next level is not all about your products; it is as much about your confidence, and articulating and narrating who you are.
Key take-outs include
- To put an authentic message out about yourself as a pioneering beauty industry person or brand, you need to live it and believe it, not pay lip service to it or feel it’s something you should do because it’s trending or newsworthy. Authenticity is everything and it is inherent in you.
- Know when you need to collaborate with others who have different views, insights and expertise. One person as a lone voice can’t do it all.
- Big beauty brands are getting the diversity message but they are changing very slowly; the current generation of decision makers needs to embrace younger advocates in order to really change and make a difference.
- It should be the norm, rather than the exception, to be able to shop for makeup and beauty products suited to all tones of skin. It shouldn’t take a celebrity to point this out to a beauty industry that should already have embraced diversity.
Connect with Eryca Freemantle and E.A.T.O.W.
You can discover more about E.A.T.O.W., its coaching, education, business support and awards here:
E.A.T.O.W. website
@eatowglobal on Instgram
@eatowglobal on Twitter
@erycafreemantle on Twitter
Eryca Freemantle on Instagram
@eatowcoaching on Facebook
Other episodes on diversity in the beauty industry
Episode 55: Can green make-up go mainstream? (the panel discussion focuses heavily on issues of diversity in colour makeup).
Episode 51: Is the beauty industry disability friendly: a panel discussion
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Formula Botanica Green Beauty Conversations podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please share, subscribe and review this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Youtube so that more people can enjoy the show. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us on Facebook and Instagram.
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Lorraine Dallmeier is a Biologist, Chartered Environmentalist and the CEO of Formula Botanica, the award-winning online organic cosmetic science school. Read more about Lorraine and the Formula Botanica Team.
