Dame Anita Roddick was a British woman with an interest in business activities and social activism that advocated for the need to improve human life and take care of the environment (Dee 12). She was born in Littlehampton in 1942 and her parents were immigrants from Italy. She attended a local school and interacted with peers from different backgrounds and this enabled her to know their cultural practices. Her interest in promoting human life developed after she read a book about the Holocaust. Anita’s teaching experience in Israel motivated her to explore the world and know how people lived and what she could do to help them (Roddick 51). She resigned from teaching and became a social worker and traveled to different places to help disadvantaged women and children. Her mother introduced Anita to Gordon Roddick and they got married in 1970 and were blessed with two children.
Anita was a teacher and this allowed her to interact with children and know their needs. Her trip to Israel transformed Anita’s life and made her stop teaching and start working for the United Nations. This enabled her to travel to different parts of the world and interact with the village and urban communities. She started investing in business activities by opening a restaurant in Littlehampton in the 1970s. In 1976, she opened The Body Shop even though she did not have experience in running businesses. She realized that people were ready and willing to buy goods and services that met their needs without considering their prices (Roddick 65).
In addition, she gained vast experience by interacting with women from different backgrounds and this enabled her to know their cultural practices. Moreover, she realized that women and children were suffering very much and this ignited in her the idea of human rights activism (Brown 82). She realized that women were ready and willing to maintain their beautiful looks at all costs. Therefore, she knew that investing in cosmetics would be a wise decision because of the ready market for natural products (Beck 38). Moreover, her mother had suffered during the Second World War and she knew how to survive during hardships. Therefore, Anita understood the importance of money in a poor economy and how to make marginalized people live comfortably. Her business started recycling containers and refilling them to reduce expenses and ensure it conserved the environment and this gave birth to the idea of environmental activism (Dee 19).
She opened a second shop and her husband became active in the business after he realized that it was making profits and the money generated was used to open new stores. He stopped his trips to America and concentrated on expanding the family business that was opening new branches (Roddick 74). The business benefited from Europe’s ‘Going Green’ campaign that was advocating for environmentally friendly practices in business activities. Coincidentally, the walls of The Body Shop were painted green because it was the only color available to conceal the old, moldy, and damp building. The business went public in 1984 and this attracted local and international awards that praised and encouraged her to continue fighting for the rights of the marginalized groups in the society. The shops sold beauty products that were produced from natural substances that promoted environmental conservation and respected the need to uphold the sanctity and value of human life (Beck 59).
She became a human rights activist and promoted campaigns that were aimed at protesting the production and use of goods from animal testing companies. Her shops and products communicated strong messages that urged people to promote social and environmental changes to protect the future of human life. In 1993, she helped the Ogoni people from Nigeria to seek reparation and justice from Shell Company that was destroying the environment and ignoring the traditions of the locals through destructive oil drilling activities (Brown 91). In addition, her business joined forces with the Greenpeace movement to protest the contributions of burning fossil fuels to global warming. She promoted autonomy in society by establishing a program that aimed at encouraging direct relationships with communities. For instance, she provided nut-crushing and grinding mills to farmers in Ghana, and this enabled women living in rural areas to have sources of income for their needs.
She was motivated by quotes from Dorothy Sayers and became a motivational speaker in learning institutions and international organizations. Anita Roddick Publications is a center recognized for its activism in social and environmental issues. Her published books include Business as Unusual, Brave Hearts, Rebel Spirits; A Spiritual Activists’ Handbook, and Troubled Water: Saints, Sinners, Truths, and Lies about the Global Water Crisis and Numbers (Roddick 79). She has a website and portal that helped her to connect with people from different regions in the world to ensure nations, organizations, and individuals play their roles in promoting human life and conserving the environment.
She became active in condemning multinational organizations that mistreated developing nations and advocated for the need to produce beauty products without using harmful chemicals. However, critics opposed her move to sell The Body Shop to L‘Oreal and claimed that this would promote animal testing activities (Dee 39). She knew her plans would transform L‘Oreal and change its practices to ensure it respects human, animal, and plant life. Dame Anita Roddick died aged 64 years after struggling with Hepatitis C; nevertheless, she left nations, organizations, and people inspired to promote business activities that conserve the environment and protect the rights of people and animals (Beck 66).
Works Cited
Beck, Sherry. Anita Roddick: Entrepreneur (Women of Achievement). New York: Chelsea House Publications, 2010. Print.
Brown, Paul. Anita Roddick and The Body Shop (Great Business Stories). Watford: Exley Publications Limited, 1996. Print.
Dee, Catherine. The Girls’ Book of Wisdom: Empowering, Inspirational Quotes from 400 Fabulous Females. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 1999. Print.
Roddick, Anita. Business as Unusual: My Entrepreneurial Journey, Profits with Principles. Chichester: Anita Roddick Books, 2005. Print.