When I started FABLERUNE it was a way for me to combine my education in Women's Studies with my deep love for creation, imagination and in a small way, my need to help others.
The idea was seeded as I was working in a domestic violence crisis and resource center and bloomed while traveling and farming in Italy. The years I had spent ruminating on my education in the way women's bodies were commodities, the history of toxic ingredients that we were forced to apply as far back as the 1600s. How little we have meant but how much we have served. Our bodies bring life, our hearts hold everything together, and our silent strength uplifts society.
Waking up this morning to the election results was a gut punch. Two men who see women as service tools rather than societies pillars holding up traditions, health and humanity. Does this mean large companies who have always disregarded our bodies fall back into false campaigns and dirty ingredients? Who upholds the standards now? I’m writing this while looking at my two perfect, wild, loud daughters and I know it is our responsibility now.
The small brands, the ones unafraid to uphold and speak out. Our bodies may not be protected by law but we will serve and protect each other as we have throughout history. From the female Chinese doctors secretly applying moxibustion and herbs to womens scars, to the midwives bringing babies into the dark world, the women elders whose tonics soothed the soul and the body.
Today is a strong reminder that women will always have to gently navigate the political and social system to ensure the health of each other and the disenfranchised. As I woke this morning in tears, afraid for my family, my employees, my business and the world, one quote has been ringing loud – “Step up, it is not a question of whether we can, itt’s we have to!”’- Dona Enriqueta (Shaman and Midwife). What we have been taught is not from a book, what has happened to you has happened to another. The pain I feel she has felt and today we uphold every standard, every legacy of strength and courage our ancestors brought before us. And we carry on with powerful dignity.
Being a woman is inherently political, it is also inherently human. Today let us move with the power and grace given by our mothers and their grandmothers. Let us fall into a rhythm of hope and compassion despite the language and fear around us. Today we have doubled down in our efforts to educate, care and heal. We will fight the tariffs, we will fight the loss of healthcare but we will not be held down.
White women. In college we spend years studying how we harbor ingrained biases against ourselves (especially women, and POC) as a form of self protection and unfortunately self sabotage. We have been taught as “subordinates” to obey, trust, and lean on our husband as the head of the household - only to neglect our natural intellect and intuition.
Last night was a heartbreaking example of the power the patriarchy still holds over us consciously and subconsciously. Even after heartbreaking stories of assault, rape, and utter lack of respect for women by the GOP, white women still showed up to the polls in droves. Both campaigns focused on the innate fear that many women feel of men in their lives finding out who they voted for and the inevitable (often violent outcome) of their choice. But so many stood in line with pride.
Is there an intellectual deficiency or something deeper going on? Are we afraid of our own power? Are we racist? Or just exhausted from fighting? I believe it's a sad accumulation of all of the above. Oppression is easy for some. Fall in line, no need to fight, to educate, to struggle. But where will that leave us in the long run? Are our memories so short that we forget the women left to die in the back allies after botched abortions, or denied care because they lacked healthcare? Or does our affluence separate us so much that we ignore it.
The truth is that many women are still afraid of the men in their life, their own power, and their voice. Polls suggest that women feared betraying their spouse or having to suffer the repercussions of voting opposite them. Unfortunately they have again voted against their own autonomy and the opportunity to have their bodies and rights protected.They have placed themselves into a victimhood that is impossible to get out from underneath. Not to mention the pressure from employers to suggest repercussions of a Harris victory. White women may have felt up against a wall or maybe they wimped out, enjoying the freedoms the last administration awarded them. Whipping the slate clean of our ancestors hard won rights. The beatings, loss of marriages, and financial support they sacrificed for our generation.
My heart aches for my grandmother who suffered endlessly to get her masters, great aunt who was in an abusive relationship until my uncle stepped in to save her. They understood more than I ever will what their voice and power meant. My Aunt told me weeks before she died how lucky I was to feel the freedom to make my own choices. To choose my own husband and to live financially independent. My heart aches for them today.
- Jeriel Sydney (founder)
As a brand owned and operated by women, we are in complete shock that a convicted felon accused of multiple sexual assaults has won the election over a woman. We can't help but feel like our country has gone backwards and has proved that the patriarchy still hates the idea of a strong female.
While there may be corporate benefits from a Trump presidency; lower taxes, allowing more deductions - it does not outweigh the immoral nature of Donald Trump and the sinking feeling that many female beauty founders are feeling right now.
Similar to his previous presidential term, he will likely deregulate manufacturing, energy, oil and gas exploration, offshore drilling, and clean production standards to boost economic growth. For some businesses, that's a good thing, for companies who work hard to produce green and make eco-conscious products - it's a slap in the face. The disregard for our planet and climate change so that he can brag about a booming economy is incredibly short sighted.
He is expected to impose another massive tariff on imports from China, Mexico, and other countries. The beauty industry relies on these relationships with foreign entities. They grow and process our ingredients, they produce our packaging, they house our excess inventory. With firsthand experience from these tariffs during his last term, we did everything we could to source in the US but found that local manufacturers could not grow many of the ingredients that we needed, and could not produce glass and plastic containers at all. These tariffs are imposed on the foreign entity, but they are immediately passed through to the buyer, and unfortunately that means a massive price increase for the consumer.
Many of the US farms that grow ingredients for the beauty and food industry are owned, managed, and operated by immigrants. Without an easier path towards citizenship, and a promise from the Trump administration to deport millions - we're putting hard working people at risk of losing their right to the American dream.
Another threat is that he'll cut budgets for the US Small Business Administration (SBA) and Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). Small beauty brands rely on funding from these sources to start and grow their businesses.
We worry for our employees and their/our daughters, and their access to healthcare. The Affordable Care Act and Planned Parenthood have long been targeted by republican leadership, and they are expected to dismantle a majority of the ACA program. This program has made birth control and healthcare more accessible than ever, and I personally saw a massive price increase in the cost of birth control under Trump's previous presidency. I can't help but wonder how young women can afford to pay for this, or if they will even have access at all going forward.
Bobbie Cunningham (Co-Owner)
