Growing up as a self-professed tomboy, Cara Sabin at all times thought the sweetness industry was frivolous. As an alternative of pursuing something near the traditionally female-dominated fields, she decided to go down a more practical route and leaned toward her interest in business. Mockingly though, while pursuing her MBA, she learned the sweetness industry was more aligned together with her passion than she thought.

“As I entered the workforce, about five years after business school, is after I had my first beauty project at L’Oreal,” the Duke University graduate shared with ESSENCE. “And once I entered the industry, I just completely fell in love. It’s just all the things from how fast-paced and the way competitive the environment. And greater than anything, you should use creativity to actually change the world.”

Sabin built her profession leading global marketing strategy with firms like Clinique and NARS, eventually landing at Sundial Brands as their CEO in 2019. The leading company owns Black-founded SheaMoisture, Nubian Heritage, Madam C.J. Walker and Nyakio.

Then in July of this 12 months, she was tapped because the President of Beauty & Wellbeing at Unilever North America after they acquired Sundial, where she’s charged with amplifying consumer investment, namely SheaMoisture. The brand has been a pivotal player within the Black haircare space for greater than 20 years and constantly makes efforts to speculate locally it serves.

But before executing her vision for the long run as she acclimates to the brand new role, Sabin said it’s vital to have a look back first.

“We’re incredibly happy with what we’ve achieved, and that’s all outlined in our latest impact report,” Sabin said in reference to the exclusive preview shared with ESSENCE.

A couple of key highlights include $10 million being invested into Black communities, including $1 million in COVID-19 relief provided to Black-owned businesses and one other $1 million pledged for community resilience; 50,000 hours of education to Black entrepreneurs; 250 Black-owned small businesses invested in and 53,000 West African women receiving fair wages in our shea butter supply chain.

“Strong commitment to community is, and at all times will likely be, the heritage of this
brand,” Sabin said in a note inside the report. “Because the CEO of Sundial Brands, makers of SheaMoisture, I’m honored to proceed this legacy of ingredient-led products, deep entrepreneurial spirit, and investments that really make a difference. There aren’t many Black-founded businesses which were acquired by a significant multinational corporation, and have continued to grow and thrive. I hope that by demonstrating our success and our growing reinvestment in communities, we generally is a beacon showing what that path can appear to be for the subsequent SheaMoistures on the planet. I’m excited to share the story of our journey and positive impact as we work towards our goal to develop into a $1B brand, multiplying our capability for reinvestment in our community. Thanks for supporting us.”

The complete impact report will be accessed after registering at bit.ly/sheamoistureimpact2022.