5% for STEM
TLDR: A portion of each sale supports New England area early STEM education efforts through Donors Choose.
New England Apothecary is a micro business borne out of a cosmetic chemistry hobby, but while I'm small on operational scale, I've always been big on vision. From the very beginning, my instinct has been to use this platform as a kind of scientific outreach and as a way to give back to the local community that so enthusiastically supports artisanal crafters like myself. The products I make have both of those missions in mind, and with two years under the belt, I'm excited to share that New England Apothecary is in a position to take it just an ounce further. Starting in 2022, New England apothecary is donating 5% of revenue to support local Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education efforts through the teachers' crowdfunding platform Donors Choose.
Photo by Erik Mclean
Beauty has a fear-mongering and disinformation problem that makes it quite difficult for indie brands to formulate and market safe and highly effective products in the most environmentally-friendly way. Much of this comes down to poor scientific literacy, a broad strokes fear of chemicals, and a distrust of big business. I've spent a lot of time over the past few years wondering what I can do to help correct the ship from my tiny little niche of the market. I want to empower everyone with a sufficient knowledge and comfort with chemistry to be able to reasonably evaluate marketing claims and decide for themselves if the product is worthy or pseudoscience bonk. While I do think my primary efforts and interactions may have some impact, I believe real change will come through investing in early science education.
My middle and high school teachers' efforts to make science come alive in the classroom were critical early exposure points for me that shuttled me toward a path of absolute joy in scientific discovery. There's no doubt in my mind that their efforts to create engaging educational content changed the course of my career. That's why, as New England Apothecary grows, supporting local STEM educator's efforts through Donors Choose feels like the obvious way to fortify the mission of increasing a broad understanding and comfort with chemistry via scientific literacy.
I'll now confess an ulterior motive -- browsing Donors Choose feels like Christmas morning to me. I was so excited to see the number of really fascinating project requests in the STEM space just in Massachusetts alone, and read the descriptions from educators of how these tools and kits will be used in the classroom. I'm an enthusiastic supporter of this work, and so grateful for your support throughout the year to enable this moment. To start, I'm filtering for STEM related projects in the New England area. This year, I filtered it down to MA (support local!). I found a plethora of amazing projects and encourage anyone reading this to hope on, browse, and consider supporting one as well! Ultimately I settled on the following two, and just wanted to highlight them here and say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported NEA in 2022 -- your purchase helped to fund these two projects!
Together, we did a thing!
Lactose intolerence: Enzymes and Evolution - lab kits to learn about enzymes and the concept of lactose intolerance will come back in a later section on evolution
Teachers in training teaching STEM - STEM educational materials to help prospective teachers learn how to teach by teaching STEM concepts to preschoolers
Giving pack to the community & scientific outreach are core principals in NEA's mission. I'm so proud to announce that starting with 2022, a core part of New England Apothecary's business model is setting aside 5% of revenue for STEM education via Donors Choose. I strive to run an environmentally and socially responsible business that is committed to creating positive change, and so I'm absolutely thrilled to finally announce this new component of my model. Thank you all for making this possible!
Want to learn more about how to support local STEM education directly? You can read about Donors Choose here https://www.donorschoose.org/about
Photo by Hans Reniers
