honeybunch

I am so saddened by the news about Anita Roddick. I worked for The Body Shop during its hey day in the '80s, and was lucky to meet Anita a few times. She was incredibly inspiring. Electrifying, really. But also kind and funny and generous and so very human. Though I kind of outgrew Body Shop products over the years - Christmas still smells like Raspberry Bathing Bubbles and Milk Bath to me - the company's earth-friendly and fair-trade practices resonated deeply, and continue to inform my work/life philosophy. She was years ahead of everyone on everything: the Amazon, sustainable ingredients, reduce/reuse/recycle, human rights. In our little Body Shop smocks, we were enraptured, evangelical. I'm sure customers wandering in for their kiwi lip balm wondered what the hell a bath shop was doing with t-shirts emblazoned with "Get Your Lawn Off Drugs" or coffee table books about the Kayapo indians in Brazil. But Anita had the gift of story telling and making you really, really care. It was, without a doubt, a life very well lived.