How this entrepreneur pivoted her travel company to honor her Latinx heritage amid coronavirus crisis
Reporting by Nurys Castillo
Small business owners have taken brutal blows since the coronavirus outbreak. Many individuals have had to permanently shut their doors or have accumulated unimaginable debt just to make ends meet. Stephanie Flor, founder of boutique travel company Around the World Beauty, felt the impact of the pandemic immediately. But she has been able to pivot her business and continue guiding women on global experiences through a new beauty subscription box.
Creating the Latin American Beauty Rituals Box for Flor meant honoring her Latinx heritage and the unique cultures that are at the core of modern-day self-care rituals.
“I am Latina, I am indigenous, I am everything,” says Flor. “My ancestors turned to plants and the moon. I knew I always was connected.”
She continues, speaking of the ancient therapeutic practices used across Central and South America: “It wasn’t until I went backpacking that I learned about these native ingredients that I’m seeing everywhere as part of this new age wellness. Let’s not forget where all these beauty regimens come from.”
What makes the Latin American Beauty Rituals Box stand out from others is that 100 percent of the ingredients are sourced from that part of the world. Each box includes a baño de flor (herbal flower bath), rose quartz, three Palo Santos sticks wrapped with rose petals and bath salt sourced from salty spring waters beneath the Andes. Her team worked with their tour partners on the ground to also supply ova oil from Costa Rica and volcanic clay from Ecuador.
With people turning to self-care now more than ever because of quarantine and the pandemic halting travel plans for thousands of individuals, this beauty subscription box makes it easy for one to focus on their well-being and take a sensory trip around the world.
Flor is also currently crowd surfacing funds to produce her first-ever four-part Around the World Beauty documentary series to further expand the global conversation around beauty within various cultures.
Flor’s favorite from the Latin American Beauty Rituals Box is the baño de flor. The herbal flower bath is infused with salts sourced from the highlands of Peru and Bolivia, as well as organic calendula, lavender, chamomile and a rose essential oil. The beauty treatment is recommended for relaxing tense muscles, opening pores and purifying the skin.
“I love using it to have a little bit of a reminder of how beautiful it is to be a Latina and to have a last name that embodies beauty,” she says.
In addition to contributing a portion of profits to the families of Maras as a “thank-you for their ancient gifts,” Flor especially hopes that any Latina who buys the beauty box discovers a ritual she maybe didn’t know about and can connect with her inner beauty and radiance.
“The world is talking to us right now,” says Flor. “Its stripped us of everything we knew as true, and more than ever, we have to travel within to find our light. Our box is focused to create the quiet time, that time for ritual and discovery.”
