Daybird

Daybird stemmed from our desire to dissociate from the traditional standards of what "beauty" and "perfection" mean. Beauty in and of itself is a loaded word and the beauty industry is a driving factor. The US beauty industry is $20B - that's $20B spent on trying to look and feel a prescribed way. Everywhere we look, we're told to wear more, spend more money, and add more steps in order to achieve unrealistic and idealistic beauty standards. This leaves the majority of customers feeling emotionally frustrated. While the beauty industry tells us to wear more, our customers want to wear less and benefit more. As two female founders of color with sensitive skin, we gathered around our shared disconnection with beauty standards in 2020. Having both worked in male dominated fields – Whitney in sports marketing and Veena as a chemical engineer-- we didn't understand why we were often the only ones in a room who were expected to spend extra time and money and wear products on our faces in order to look professional or feel confident. The mental load we carry (rent-free) as women is exhausting. On average, women spend $225,000 on beauty over their lifetime, yet do not use 90% of the products. Our over 4000 customers told us that they're not using the products on their shelves, and that their top goal is to minimize steps to take back ownership of what beauty means to them. It is important to us to build a company and community that is inclusive and puts our customers first, allowing them to show up for each day, however they are in that moment. We ultimately want to create space for our customer on the shelf she shops, the social media she scrolls, and the entertainment she watches in order to give her a brand that she feels truly sees her. Long-term, our mission is to dismantle beauty standards as they exist today and redefine them for future generations. We ultimately envision a world where everything you put on your skin will benefit you, both physically and emotionally.