Anita Roddick, The Body Shop, and Me

By Pamela Chatry, Personal Business Manager

This week Anita Roddick died. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her, she founded the retail chain The Body Shop. Now while I like The Body Shop products and stores, this article isn’t about them. This article is about Anita.

There has never been another woman in my life quite like her. From the day I first discovered The Body Shop, I connected with Anita. Over the years I followed her career, her business and her anti-establishment idealism with awe and gratitude. To me she was never Anita Roddick. She was Anita: my hero, my idol, and my business mentor.

Here was a woman who built her business on passion, values, and morals, not product. The product was merely the vehicle which allowed her to square off against the injustices on our planet. She used the business to make a difference in lives and communities around the world. She lived to help make the Earth a better place.

I never stopped learning from Anita. Over the years, whenever I walked by The Body Shop stores in towns and cities around the world, she taught me to pay attention to hundreds of issues I might not have otherwise heard about. Issues such as fair trade, body image, aging, global water shortages, human rights in war-torn countries, hunger in the world…the list goes on and on. She taught me that as a business owner, it is my responsibility to create a profitable company. Yet to her, profitability meant freedom to choose how we live our lives. Anita taught me that profitability with principles can lead to community and even global change.

Over the years I observed that Anita never wavered from her convictions. She wasn’t afraid to tackle injustice, create visions for change and head right into the enemy trenches. She appeared fearless. Not surprisingly this created many critics and enemies! She called them the “zealots of cynicism” yet she ignored them all and kept pursuing her dreams. I loved that about her. She taught me to surge ahead no matter what the obstacles. There will always be saboteurs who will try to stand in your way. Don’t let them defeat you.

The Vancouver Sun, on September 12, 2007, called her the “Mother Teresa of Capitalism”. How appropriate. When Mother Teresa of Calcutta passed away, the world lost a kind and gentle light of humanity. With the passing of Anita Roddick, the world has lost a bright and different kind of light; a visionary for socially conscious business. Thank you Anita! The spirit of your lessons, your passion for business and your genuine concern for life will continue to guide me always.

To learn more about Anita Roddick, her life and her business, I encourage you to read her books, ‘Business as Unusual’ or ‘Body and Soul’.

Pamela Chatry is a Personal Business Manager and Small Business Strategist. You can learn more about Pamela’s services at: www.pamelachatry.com or contact her at: info@pamelachatry.com