Medium Interview: Beauty Without Cruelty

"In an era where conscious consumerism is on the rise, the beauty industry is undergoing a significant transformation towards cruelty-free and ethical practices. This series aims to highlight and celebrate the brands and individuals who are at the forefront of this movement, showcasing their commitment to ethical sourcing, animal welfare, and sustainable production in the world of cosmetics. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Jeriel Sydney and Bobbie Cunningham.

Jeriel Sydney and Bobbie Cunningham, both moms and bootstrapped entrepreneurs, created the brand in 2015, starting by cleaning out their $283 bank account to make and sell goat milk soap on Etsy. This year they are set to hit $1M in sales, showcasing the success of their slow wellness and beauty brand. The best friends share a passion for clean beauty, focusing on the recipes passed down through generations of women, using ancient ingredients proven both historically and scientifically, our brand centers around ancestral healing and wellness."

I started FABLERUNE in Oakland California. I have a degree in women’s studies, My education in gender studies has played a significant role in how we have structured FABLERUNE. Equity, inclusivity and sustainability are at the core of our business. Our goal has always been to make a difference with the work we do, whether it’s through our giveback program ( BUY.GIVE.SHARE. ) or activism for marginalized communities, we are always focusing our efforts on healing, giving, and serving every community. Living in Italy for a period of time changed my body and how it functioned, that was the point where I really realized that I needed to create a line of products centered around clean ingredients. I took my education in ayurvedic massage, aromatherapy, and the old world techniques I had picked up in Italy and began making products. The true impact that this business could have wasn’t fully realized until my partner and co-owner Bobbie came on. Bobbie is a licensed cosmetologist and trained esthetician, with a background in manufacturing. Her unique education and skillset is the driving force behind our growth. She has a deep respect for the earth and her passion for sustainability and renewable process has made FABLERUNE a business with meaning and environmental integrity.

When FABLERUNE was just starting out, I was working as a massage therapist. At the time I had an amazing roommate named Nubia. One afternoon Nubia asked if I would give her aunt a massage because she had never had the experience, having lived in rural Mexico all her life. We spoke two different languages, but at the end of the massage her aunt was crying and I was crying and the experience was a beautiful non-verbal communication and realization that the power of touch can be so healing. Later that day Nubia’s aunt came to me with a bowl of warm water, a lemon cut in half, and a bowl of salt. She slowly dipped her hands in the water and began to gently scrub my hands and arms, sharing her own wellness secret in the same way I had shared mine. We laughed and connected deeply in those moments. It was then that I realized the power of connection and sharing wellness rituals as a way to transcend language, age, gender, and affluence. That’s what built FABLERUNE and has guided us ever since.

Communication, empathy, and knowing my strengths and weaknesses. A lesson I’ve learned over the years is that you do not have to be great at everything and you do not need to wear every hat — delegate and make the best use of each individual’s strengths. I think communication is key in building any company. As an employer I want to know what my employees need from me and I want to clearly communicate what I expect from them. We have a small team and the more honest and transparent we are with each other the better and healthier we all become. Before working with Bobbie as a co-owner, I didn’t really understand how to communicate clearly, or to share what I needed. We are working against a lot of deep rooted patriarchal systems and as women sometimes we don’t speak up. If the two of us cannot be in the right headspace at work we are putting our business at a disadvantage and that comes from communicating our expectations and boundaries.

Empathy and honesty in the workplace for us is instrumental in creating an environment where we can all thrive. Knowing that your emotional needs are met as well as your physical/financial needs makes employees feel safe and build loyalty. We try to make space for our family schedules, games, vacations, outside meetings etc… I want my employees to know that when they are in need they can come to me and we can work out scheduling, time off, or any situation that comes up. I am here to improve their lives the same way they do mine.

Coming from a household where I was homeschooled for many years, I have felt undereducated most of my life, like I was always trying to catch up. As we built FABLERUNE there was something inherent in me when I was making, formulating, or branding. The creativity in those tasks built a new understanding of self confidence and taught me to always continue learning. When you are inundating yourself with knowledge it leaves a lot less space for doubt and insecurities. This industry is always changing and evolving and for us to keep up with everything and still enjoy it we both look at ourselves as students rather than experts or teachers. But you also need to remember that you can’t know everything and you don’t need to try. Bobbie is great at the things I struggle with and vice versa. For us as women we tried in the beginning to both do everything and we were burning out and getting nowhere fast. Once we accepted our individual gifts, talents, and knowledge we found beautiful balance and our business began to grow organically.

We are never not working on something, lol. We have two more fragrance launches this year, Herbarium and Smoked Vanilla & Redwood. Which we are so excited about. Looking forward to 2025 we have a few exciting projects we are building towards. I like to keep these close to my heart so we can be really intentional with the process and not have any outside expectations.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a degree in women and gender studies and at the forefront of my education was evaluating marginalized communities and the inequities in healthcare and access to clean hygiene products. I think oftentimes when people hear “cruelty-free” and “ethical” they think of animals and deforestation but they forget about the humans that lack access to products that are free of harmful ingredients. The way they are treated as a commodity and the physical impact class has on health. So we started our BUY.GIVE.SHARE. program which has given us the opportunity to donate soap, shampoo and conditioner, body lotion, and skincare products to women’s shelters, food banks, and domestic violence crisis and resource centers across the country, Our focus is always to work in service to someone. So bringing clean products into marginalized communities was the first priority. With this fondation all of our other ethical choices fell into place. Cruelty on any level isn’t accepted in our corporation. Whether it is an animal or a human we ensure safety. Using clean, healthy ingredients that are not tested on animals was really never in question. Our mission and our ethical code was basically written before we made our first product. It is our truest identity, who we are at the core. It’s not a philosophy as much as an intrinsic nature. It is impossible to make something healing if you are using ingredients that have caused harm.

We work closely with all of our suppliers to ensure our standards are met. We ask for certifications and any auditing that has been done by a third party. Once we have sourced all of our ingredients we roll into the formulation phase. When you start to build a formulation with beautiful ingredients, positive results are inevitable. When you combine that with knowledge you have a product that works with the body and has high efficacy.

FABLERUNE has always been cruelty-free. We couldn’t live with ourselves if it were any other way. Over the years we have learned the language from our suppliers, we have studied formulations and we have crafted a remarkable product that heals. None of that would be possible if the energy behind the product was harmful.

I think the biggest misconception is that a label tells the whole truth. People believe that when they see a product is “clean” it means that the brand is ethical and the ingredients come from sustainable sources. There is very little regulation on words like “clean” “green” “natural” and “ethical”. So much happens in this industry that people don’t see, don’t want to see. And it’s our jobs as stewards of the land to ensure that we create the best product with the most sustainable ingredients. A label that says clean or natural doesn’t mean it has a deep ecological moral compass. For us to educate, we write journals and newsletters that feed healthful knowledge to our customers. We share our ingredients and processes online through our social channels and we talk to customers face to face as often as possible.

1 . You need to first build that into the brand. Everything in your brand story and personal identity need to align. Bobbie and I both have deep convictions about animal welfare so that has always been a priority.

2 . To build any successful brand you need to make connections and find your tribe. We share our story constantly through social media and our website. Making sure we are out there connecting around the topic of clean and cruelty-free products has helped us build a loyal community and customer base.

3 . You need to be diligent in your sourcing. We have made so many adjustments over the years as we have had the opportunity to learn more, and have been able to meet more vendors. We are always looking for ways to make the product cleaner, more sustainable, and more enjoyable to our customers.

4 . Get certified by Leaping Bunny as soon as you can. It validates your values and keeps you mindful of your suppliers. For us it’s a checks and balance system, and something we are really proud of.

5 . Transparency is a huge one for Bobbie and myself. Building a brand that is built on honesty and integrity can be overwhelming, mistakes get made, dates get changed, life happens. We want our community to know that we are always being honest with them. Good, bad, ugly. They will always get the truth from us.

The landscape in the cosmetic industry is changing drastically everyday. We see innovation in farming practices, sourcing traceability, and sustainability. Five years ago when we built our refill bar, it was mostly unheard of in the skincare realm, but now they are everywhere. My hope is that trends like these continue to grow and cause other innovations in sustainability. As a brand we are looking at conservations, preservation, and transparency. We hope that with every day of growth we can give back to projects supporting these causes while also helping the folks that are suffering the repercussions of the harmful practices this industry created.

My gut instinct is off topic, but also sadly relevant at any moment… gun control.

But truly if we as a society focus on kindness to the earth in the way we harvest and create. The ways we treat others. Perhaps we won’t have to worry so much about violence.