New Brunswick-Owned Cosmetic Company Receives LGBTQ+ Owned Business Certification
FREDERICTON–Upfront Cosmetics, a women-owned business based in New Brunswick, has received its LGBTQ+ owned business certification through Canada’s LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce.
Alicia Nicholson, the founder and CEO of Upfront Cosmetics, said owning a business was not the path she planned to take. She got the idea for the business when her first son was born and she was searching for a shampoo that didn’t irritate his scalp.
“I landed on the products that I have now and realized there was a market for them and here we are three years later,” Nicholson told Huddle in an interview.
Nicholson said receiving the LGBTQ+ owned business certification means having third-party verification that the business is owned by someone in the LGBTQ+ community.
“Growing up in a small, rural, New Brunswick community, it really meant a lot of the time I shied away from really expressing who I really was. So getting the certification, I hope that it can show other people that are maybe in my shoes that it’s okay. Don’t think that that’s going to be something that can hold you back and just that it’s okay to live your true self,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson said some larger companies have supplier diversity mandates where they must buy a certain amount of goods or services from minority-owned or diverse enterprises. Upfront Cosmetics having the LGBTQ+ owned business certification will allow them to compete against those larger companies.
The certification is offered through the CGLCC (Canada’s LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce). Nicholson said the organization helps all sorts of businesses not just with certification but also through resources or training.
“Maybe businesses aren’t necessarily owned by someone in the LGBTQ community but want to make sure that they’re inclusive,” she said.
Nicholson said receiving the certification is humbling because she now gets to operate Upfront Cosmetics in the same community she grew up in where she didn’t feel comfortable living her authentic self.
In celebration of receiving this certification and also for Pride Month, Upfront Cosmetics released a limited edition love is love bar. Nicholson said two dollars from each love is love shampoo bar will be donated to the Rainbow Road foundation.
“They are a global, not-for-profit foundation that help anyone in the LGBTQ+ community that’s facing prosecution based on their sexual orientation, sexual gender, or any of those things. It helps bring them to places like Canada or the U.S. where they’re not going to face that same kind of systematic.”
Her business, Upfront Cosmetics, is approaching its three-year anniversary in July. The natural-product business launched after Nicholson did a business accelerator through the Summer Institute program at the University of New Brunswick.
Upfront Cosmetics sells vegan, eco-friendly, paraben-, synthetic fragrance-, and sulphate-free shampoo and conditioner bars, as well as hair masks. Nicholson said each hair care bar replaces two-to-three bottles of liquid shampoo. The bars come with no plastic packaging and are made with all-natural ingredients.
“We’re at this interval time, just as a society, that if we don’t start doing something about plastic waste it’s going to be too late.”
Nicholson said she has found great natural alternatives but they all still come in plastic packaging.
“It was really just about finding something for [my son] and just my passion for environmental justice just went right along with that.”
Upfront Cosmetics has four full-time staff who make the products at a manufacturing facility in Nackawic.
While Upfront Cosmetics doesn’t have its own storefront, Nicholson said her products are sold at 650 different stores across Canada and the United States. Some of these stores include Sobeys, Safeway, Whole Foods Canada, and some independent health food stores.
Jessica Saulnier is a summer intern for Huddle. Send her your story tips: [email protected].