Back in the 90s, a 16-year-old me was sitting in a high school classroom watching Channel One. Channel One was an in-school news broadcast delivered by Lisa Ling to educate students about current events and happenings around the world. One particular day, Channel One asked students to provide topics that we would like to see covered in the broadcast, which prompted my teacher to ask us for our ideas. Without hesitation I blurted out, “Animal Rights!" receiving an approving nod from my teacher. After a few moments of silence and a quick glance around the room, I noticed strange looks of confusion coming from my classmates. For context, my high school was located in a rural part of Virginia where animals were considered pets, food and often prey, but certainly not deserving of rights. Even though animal rights and animal testing were not a mainstream consideration in day to day life at that time, my teenage self, with dreams of becoming a veterinarian, couldn’t understand how we could make animals suffer to test things like mascara, eyeshadow and nail polish. It was back then that I decided I would spend my money on brands that didn’t test their products on animals, simply because it seemed like the right thing to do.
Fast forward to today and I still know it’s the right thing to do. I, like many of us now, look for information on a label that tells me a product hasn’t been animal tested. As the founder of Ripple Skincare, I consider it my responsibility to ensure that every product we make is safe, both to humans and animals. That’s why we ensure our products and the ingredients used to make them are never tested on animals. This is a commitment I made on day one and will continue to make into the future.
To prove our dedication to this effort, I am honored to announce that Ripple Skincare has been approved by the Leaping Bunny Program, part of the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), that certifies brands as animal friendly. I am so proud and honored to be a part of this collective of like-minded businesses that place a priority on ethics.
I can't help but think back to high school and wonder what 16-year-old Stephani would think about all this. Would she be disappointed that she didn’t become a veterinarian? Maybe. Would she love Ripple Skincare products? Absolutely.