In Memory of Anita Roddick

Los Angeles, CA

Yesteday would have been Dame Anita Roddick’s 67th birthday. Anita passed away two years ago this September.

Long before the Green Movement was popular or even understood, Anita Roddick was an pioneer and activist in every way. As an entrepeneur working with her husband Gordon she started what began as a small business selling naturally based skin and hair care products. As the founder of The Body Shop in 1976 she chose not to test her product on animals and encouraged reusing and recycling in peoples’ every day lives.

From what began as one small shop in the UK would evolve into and empire of close to 2,000 locations world wide. These shops would be her ‘billboards’ for addressing human rights, social injustices, and enviromental issues of the moment.

A quick search will revel that every major news outlet wrote fitting tributes at the time of Anita’s death but today I’ll share a simple personal story;

The Anita I knew was always busy, always on the go. Her travel schedule was crazy and her speeches and presentations were in high demand. She was very generous in her philanthropic gifts and left her entire estate to charities. She lived each day to its fullest but would slow down when it came to story telling or spending hours on end talking with friends. She had the most remarkable gift of listening- really activily listening. People meeting her for the first time might find themselves disclosing innermost secrets and feelings they never shared with anyone else.

Anita took me and a friend to our first anti-war protest. It was exciting being part of a large and roudy group that marched down State Street in Santa Barabara each weekend to express what Democracy really looks like !

On a lighter note Anita was quick to laugh and always welcomed a good joke. She had a great appreciation of fine art, folk art, and outsider art. The last category is illustrated in her support of The American Visionary Art Museum.

So, if you don’t know Anita’s remarkable story I encourage you to read her books, especially Body and Soul; Profits with Principles. Her activist work continues on today and frequent posts can be read at AnitaRoddick.com. To get involved in the campaigns imporant to the Roddick’s foundation explore the ‘I Am An Activist’ website
(links below).

Anita’s message is around all of us today as it has become the norm to reevaluate our daily choices and how they effect other people and the planet.

In memory of Anita’s birthday- Do something ! Get outraged and get involved with something that matters to you.


www.anitaroddick.com/

iamanactivist.org/