An Indigenous cosmetics innovator has received the 2022 Indspire award for her leadership in business.
Jenn Harper, the founder and owner of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics Inc., received Indspire’s Business & Commerce Award during the organization’s annual gala in Ottawa on May 12.
Indspire is a national charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people for the long-term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada.
Award recipients are chosen annually in several categories including the arts; business and commerce; culture, heritage and spirituality; education; health; law and justice; public service; sports; and lifetime achievement.
“At Indspire, we’ve been eagerly anticipating our biggest celebration in years,” said Indspire president and CEO Mike DeGagné in a news release.
“This is an especially significant moment as we celebrate in person. We are proud to honour our 2022 Laureates and their outstanding achievements, recognizing the important place they hold in their communities and in wider Indigenous circles across Turtle Island.”
A member of the Northwest Angle 33 First Nation, an Ojibwe community in the Kenora District of northwestern Ontario, Harper was born in Thunder Bay but raised in southern Ontario where she currently resides.
She launched Cheekbone Beauty in 2016, producing high-quality, vegan, cruelty-free lipsticks, eye pencils, and other cosmetics, which all come in more sustainable forms of packaging.
Central to the company is its commitment to donate the equivalent of one per cent of gross sales to environmental non-profit organizations.
To date, Cheekbone Beauty has donated more than $150,000 of cash and in-kind products to organizations that support Indigenous youth and women across Turtle Island, including projects that enable clean drinking water, solar power, and tree-planting initiatives for Indigenous communities.
Cheekbone Beauty is also a Certified B Corporation, indicating it meets high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
A full list of the 2022 Indspire winners is available here.
