Building a company culture founded on our core values (innovation, education, empowerment, excellence and giving back) is really important at Okoko Cosmétiques. Our initiative leverages the resources of our brand and our employees to work together to do good around us. Giving back to our community is a core value we don’t often talk about, but is something we focus on in our day to day work. This is part of who we are, and has been since Okoko was founded…
Giving back is a strong motivation for us to improve and grow our business, so Okoko can support and eventually become a force for positive social change. Making time too use our abilities, gifts and resources to serve and care for one another is challenging, but truly rewarding. It shifts our business mindset to building a legacy that can empower others around us. We are a business with heart and know that it takes authentic compassion and small, well-intentioned actions on a consistent basis to have the biggest impact.
Charitable Giving
We choose to support causes that are dear to us and feel are affecting our communities directly. In the past, we have discussed issues such as human trafficking and poverty. Two organizations we have partnered with are The Joy Smith Foundation in the fight against human trafficking and Beauty Night Society, which provides women living on the edge with self-care and beauty services. Whether it’s through financial contributions, direct volunteering or sharing the message on social media, we believe that even the smallest contribution or action can affect someone’s life positively.
We recently joined the Save on Meats Token program which is an amazing initiative that provides food to the homeless and the hungry. Save on Meats is an incredible social enterprise and restaurant in the downtown East Side of Vancouver. Through their program anyone can purchase tokens (in person or online) that can be redeemed for a free soup or sandwich. Purchasers can either distribute their tokens to those in need directly or have Save on Meats give them to partners working in this poorest of Canada’s communities. The program is successful because it does two things:
- It feeds people in need by providing a place for anyone to receive a decent warm meal in a welcoming environment.
- It fosters connections between people of all walks of life because it is through real human interactions that these tokens are given and exchanged between businesses, organizations, everyday citizens and those in need.
Providing 50 meals a month
Okoko has committed to providing a minimum of 50 free meals per month through this program. We regularly hand them out personally to people in our neighborhood and also distribute them to a local Downtown East side Women’s housing society. Recently we brought Sammy, Okoko’s newest and cutest addition, along while we gave out tokens. Seeing the impact of this simple gesture was totally worth it. The shared moments of positivity and happiness was heart warming for everyone. This is of utmost value to people who are living in dire situations and often can feel isolated and marginalized.
Our efforts are just a drop in the bucket but we believe that Okoko is a brand that creates beautiful skincare and empowers others. We aim to create social impact as a fundamental part of the Okoko vision.
