Meet One Of The Founding Members Of The B Corp Beauty Coalition, Made For Life Organics

3 months ago

We catch up with founder Amanda Winwood

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Back in early 2022, a number of beauty brands sharing B Corp status came together to form B Beauty, the official B Corp Beauty Coalition. And one of those 26 founding brands was Made For Life Organics, a wellness label specialising in hand-blended organic skin and haircare. ‘Our joint aim was to improve the sustainability standards of the global beauty industry,’ Amanda Winwood, founder of Made For Life, tells C&TH. ‘We all felt that having greater transparency would enable beauty customers to make informed choices rather than choose based on some of the greenwashing that goes on.’ We caught up with Amanda to chat B Beauty goals, the importance of organic wellness and what’s next for Made For Life.

Made For Life’s Amanda Winwood On The B Corp Beauty Coalition

Amanda Winwood

Hi Amanda, how’s life going right now?

It has been pretty frenetic recently. We’ve just come out the other of an amazing SpaFest 2024, held at St Moritz Hotel in Cornwall, as well as three Tea & Therapy events. Now I’m in Spain and just catching a breath. Life is good.

Can you kick us off by telling our readers a little bit about yourself and what you do?

I was born in Wells and brought up in Cheshire in a small village called Malpas. I am a trained massage therapist and Reiki Master, and also have qualifications in NLP Business Practitioner, Mindfulness and Shinrin Yoku.

I am also the founder of Made for Life Organics, a skin and haircare brand based in Cornwall. We actually just celebrated 21 years of the brand and the Made for Life Foundation, a registered charity providing support to those living with cancer.

Family-wise, I am married to Geoff (the hubster!) who is my rock, and we live between Cornwall and a tiny village in the heart of Catalunya. I have two amazing daughters, Hannah and Molly, who are both in their 20’s and who inspire me every day. I also have an amazing son, Ben, who is a composer and whose music was featured on the Princess of Wales’s recent video about her having completed chemotherapy.

When I am not working, I love walking with our three dogs, heading out into the mountains, riding pillion on Geoff’s Harley Davidson. I love swimming, being in nature, the scents of plants and feeling the sun on my face.

How did Made For Life come about?

Between 1999 and 2012 I was the co-Managing Director of Budock Vean, a hotel in Cornwall. It had a beautiful spa area and wonderful grounds, but I discovered that the brand we were using there did not permit people living with cancer to have spa treatments. The products themselves were great for facials because of the active ingredients inside, but were ultimately unsuitable for people with sensitive and sensitized skin.

Eventually, my spa manager introduced me to Dr Mariano Spiezia. I loved the formulations he had created – marrying science with nature. It was absolutely aligned with my values and thoughts about the connections of human beings to the power of plants. I also really loved the fact that it was a Cornish brand.

I worked alongside Dr Spiezia, exploring and learning about the formulation methods, invested in the brand and when the Spiezia family sold out to another investor I stayed with it.

It was tough at times. I still remember asking, ‘why I am doing this?’. And one morning at 4am in May 2009, the words ‘Made For Life’ came into my head. That is how the brand was born. It felt like a gift.

We had already had amazing feedback on how wonderful the balms and oils were on sensitive and sensitized skin, including eczema and psoriasis. And they are ‘made for life’ – from pregnancy, childhood right through to maturity. We created some beautiful, really holistic spa rituals which centred on aromatherapy and homeopathy. All this was wrapped into treatments aimed to help people reach that wonderful parasympathetic state where your body just relaxes and melts into a semi sleep state.

And what role does organic wellness play in the brand’s ethos?

Organic wellness is at the heart of what we do. It is a shocking fact that you still only need 1.75 percent of ingredients in a product to actually be organic to label it as an organic product. We were the first brand that the Soil Association accredited at 100 percent back in 2001.

Some people have a view that organic skincare does not go through the same rigorous testing that mainstream skincare does. In fact, it not only has to go through that but also ensure that it conforms to any regulatory standards that the various certifying bodies have.

My belief is that sometimes we need to look back to move forward. The use of pesticides has affected us and our planet – every facet. From our waters to our pollinators to our own health. Our view is that ‘less is more’, and that means carefully thinking about our actions at the beginning and what the outcomes may be.

As well as being organic, Made For Life is also a B Corp brand – what drew you to this certification?

I loved the fact that B Corp was a 360-degree audit and accreditation which carried credibility. It was really aligned with what Made For Life stands for. And what do I mean by that? Well, in order to achieve B Corp certification, you have to be able to verify that you are committed to total transparency within your business practice.

This includes charitable giving, your employee benefits and wellbeing, supply chain and environmental performance. In a nutshell, it calls us to account for all our actions as a business, checking whether we are a genuine force for good.

You also have to achieve a minimum score of 80 to pass. We currently have a rating of 94.7 – this validates our authenticity as a brand to any consumer who is wanting to make a conscious and sustainable purchase.

And what has your journey been like within the B Corp community so far? Any notable highlights or tough moments?

Luckily, there have been more highs than lows so far! The tough moments were the 64 plus hours of solid work, research and validation that it took me to complete the audit. The B Corp audit team are scrupulous in their work, and it is thought-provoking and occasionally frustrating to go through the process. We have just recertified, which is part of the deal of being B Corp. It is not a lifetime merit. You have to recertify every two years, so the process keeps you on your toes and on track. It is a great foundation.

What has also been fantastic is the connections and community within B Corp. You have access to business founders and companies who have shared ethics, values and commitment. It is very inclusive. And if you need help, there is always someone that you can reach out to and ask for advice. This is very strong in Cornwall, where I sit on the B Local Committee. I have met some great people and also forged friendships as a result of Made for Life being certified B Corp.

And you’re a founding member of B Beauty – tell us about the coalition…

Made For Life was one of 26 global and leading Certified B Corporations within the beauty sector who formed the coalition in 2022. Our joint aim was to improve the sustainability standards of the global beauty industry.

The B Corp Beauty Coaltion’s mission is to promote collaboration and exchange between skincare companies, with the aim of sharing best practices and implementing improvements across supply chains – including packaging, ingredients purchasing and also to enable greener logistics – plus authentic messaging for the consumer.

We all felt that having greater transparency would enable beauty customers to make informed choices rather than choose based on some of the greenwashing that goes on.

B Corp Beauty coalition’s vision is to deliver ‘beauty for good’. For me, it is summed up in the following, which is our mission statement:

‘As members of the B Corp Beauty Coalition, we envision a new approach to beauty that prioritises:

soil as much as skin

HEALTH AS MUCH AS HAPPINESS

evidence as much as ESTEEM

REGENERATION AS MUCH AS RESULTS.

We commit to working together to share knowledge and best practices, spark exploration and responsible innovation, and to speak consistently and clearly, to deliver genuine benefits to our customers, our communities, and our planet.’

It doesn’t get much better than that!

We like to pass on the love within the B Corp community – are there any other B Corp brands you think are doing a great job?

Good question. There are some great ones in Cornwall:

Cornish Gems: Lovely holiday homes
Roddas: Just make sure you out the cream on you scone after your jam
St Eval: A stunning candle company
Stephens and Scown: They’re great lawyers and solicitors
Finisterre: A fabulous clothing company

There are loads more, and I would recommend that readers who are interested visit the B Corp website. It lists every B Corp company – not just in the UK, but globally. bcorporation.net

What would you like Made For Life to be known for?

I would like Made for Life to be known for being innovative, rebellious, authentic and generous. For loving the planet and the herbs and flowers that grow on it, and promoting kindness and love to people who need it, especially those living with cancer and other long term health issues that affect their wellbeing.

I would love Made for Life to also be known as an exemplar for what real skincare and wellbeing is all about – and that is simply being there as a trusted, safe, effective and sustainable brand that changed lives.

Personally, I would rather be remembered for being ‘mint’ than ‘minted’.

Anything exciting in the pipeline? (That you can tell us about!)

So much! These are just some of things we’re working on at the moment:

Lord Bolitho, the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, will be presenting us with our King’s Enterprise Award for Sustainable Development on 16 December 2024 at our HQ in the Health & Wellbeing Innovation Centre in Cornwall. We were one of just 26 UK companies to receive this honour in 2024.

We will also be launching our Soundscape ‘Breathe Harmony’ more fully in 2025. This is a meditative piece of music created by Ben Winwood, which will accompany our spa rituals. It sits at 432Hz, and has been created to relax and calm. We have already conducted research on how this works, and look forward to seeing it in action soon.

We have started rolling out Tea & Therapy™ and Tea & Tools®. These are events to provide support and help for people living with cancer, and we have worked on this with NHS Social Prescribing in Cornwall and hope to expand across the UK. Some of our key partners include Mullion Hotel and Spa in Cornwall, Coworth Park in Surrey and Carden Park in Cheshire.

We are also launching an amazing B Well Spa Ritual in November. We are currently training therapists across the whole of the Bannatyne Hotel group. This will mean that all of their spas will be able to confidently welcome people living with cancer and other long term health issues.

How do you think we can live a life in balance?

I do and I don’t live in balance. Life is like a seesaw; it’s not meant to be smooth sailing every single day. Instead, your attitude is key – it defines everything.

What I do – every single day, morning and evening – is think about three things that I am grateful for. I walk every single morning for at least 40 minutes (not looking at my phone whilst I am doing that), and take time to enjoy my surroundings. I eat well and laugh loud, and I also have been known to put on T. Rex’s ‘I Love to Boogie’ and throw out some outrageous 70s and 80s dance moves while no-one is looking!

I think that people put themselves under a lot of pressure to ‘live a life in balance’, and there are times when it is and times when it won’t be. To try and attain a permanent state of balance is setting yourself up to fail.

Live a rich and fearless life – ‘less fear and more fierce’ as keynote speaker at SpaFest, Carly Moosah, would say. Eat wholesome food that makes you feel great most of the time. Smile more, it’s contagious. Catch your breath and allow yourself to say ‘me first’ at times. Give and receive hugs, and spend a great deal of your time doing things that you love, including being with people you love. That’s balance.

Anything else you’d like our readers to know?

We are an artisan business and we still hand-blend every single balm and oil in the heart of Cornwall. We welcome people to come join us, and if they know someone going through cancer, we can support that journey.