By Eva D. Coleman
Lifestyle & Culture Editor
Seasonal box curators smooth out new product of their own
Kala Garner and Denise Gilmore-McPherson have boxed up joy for over six years. Their BetternessBox, seasonal self-care boxes featuring products for Black people, made by Black people, have propelled individuals forward in their journeys of caring for themselves, and given business owners a platform to showcase and sell their wares. They recently launched the first item in their product line, BetternessBody.
“For six years, we’ve been sourcing products, we’re talking to small businesses, we’re trying to make sure that we put in the best of the best inside our actual subscription box; so we’ve learned so much over those years,” Garner said. “So for us, it was a ‘Why don’t we create something that actually we’ve learned these are the things that our people care about? These are the things that will actually make an impact in the lives of others.’”
With that line of thinking, b(ahhh)dy butter worked its way into the marketplace.
“It’s a body cream actually, so it’s not just something that is going to sit on your skin with a whole bunch of binders or silicones,” Garner said, while providing a live demonstration on her hand during the BetternessBody pop-up shop experience at Fabletics in Plano’s Legacy West on Dec. 1, 2024. “It’s actually very smooth and it absorbs super quickly because the jojoba oil inside actually mimics your skin’s oils.”
It’s light and has, as they refer to it, a “gender neutral” scent that is refreshing and leaves a shine on Garner’s smooth, brown, melanated skin. BetternessBody and their BetternessBox are intentional about their target audience.
“I don’t know that Black folks, melanated folks, look at the wellness solutions that are out there as for them,” Garner said. “And so, if you think about the goops of the world, or if you think about any other wellness brand that’s become an entire enterprise, I don’t see myself in that.”
A desire to fill the obvious void came with Garner’s questions of “What does it look like for us to have a place that truly is better in wellness together? What does that look like where I feel like the ingredients are specifically made for me?”
From culturally common skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and even just having drier skin, it can be welcoming to discover something that works.
“We need to make sure we have ingredients in our products that actually make a difference,” Garner said. “And so, for me, I just didn’t see that in the market. I did not see a place, a brand, really a wellness brand that spoke to me as a melanated person, a Black person.”
Getting away from the stigma of self-care appearing as selfish, Garner sees the evolution of thought in taking care of ourselves.
“When I think about my mother, my aunties, my grandma; they didn’t have the ability and even, let’s call it privilege, to self-care. They didn’t know what self-care was,” Garner said. “Their self-care might have been sitting on the porch after a long day cooking for the whole family and cleaning and working and cleaning other people’s homes, right?”
The liberty of discovery and creativity in this moment isn’t lost on the BetternessBody brand.
“I get to decide what self-care is for me and it’s actually a privilege because my ancestors, I’m living their dream right now. I’m saying to myself, ‘I don’t have to make the same sacrifices they did.’ They made the sacrifices so that I could rest; so that I could self-care. I get to decide what that looks like for me,” Garner said. “That is freedom that our grandmothers, even our mothers, didn’t even have, and so for us, it is a privilege to create something, this business and this enterprise that will continue to grow. It’s a privilege because I know that the women that came before me didn’t have the opportunity to do so.”
BetternessBody then focused on a product of their own, with others planned in the future.
“We worked with a chemist here in Dallas, a Black woman, and she and I and Denise formulated this,” Garner said. “We agonized over the scent and everything about it. And so, we created this cream so that it becomes one of the first things that we actually put out, and soon, hopefully next year, we come out with our second thing…our second product, and just continue from there.”
For the past few years, they’ve focused on building up Black-owned businesses. Garner shared that building up their own has always been part of the plan.
“When you start a business, you’re always thinking about expansion,” Garner said. “As CEO, I’m always in the clouds. My COO Denise is always trying to bring me back to reality, but I’m always thinking about ‘What does it look like to have a Betterness Spa where people walk in and have this experience?’ And from the beginning we thought about that.”
From container view to point-of-sale to product use and results, keeping the Black customer as the focus has remained a priority.
“What does it look like for you to experience better wellness? Betterness. And that starts with a box and what that feels like when you open it and you know that it’s for you; it was curated specifically for you,” Garner said. “With this product, as soon as you open it, everytime you open it, every day that you use it, you know that this was created for you and it’s a luxury experience. From the packaging to the texture of the product, to the high globally sourced, quality ingredients, everything that we do is going to be high achieving. So we’re super excited about the product.”
The BetternessBox has moved beyond being a seasonal subscription. Self-care from available items is now a customizable experience.
“When you go to betternessbox.com, if you go on under ‘Build Your Own Box,’ yes, you can now build your own box. It’s not just a curated kit. Eventually, we want you there so that you can stay consistent with your self-care routine, but now you can browse, choose your products, and then just receive them in the mail by just curating what it is you want.”
BetternessBox co-founders Garner and Gilmore-McPherson are the epitome of “lift as you climb.” Gilmore-McPherson distributed a map of options throughout Legacy West to aid shoppers in identifying self-care opportunities beyond their pop-up shop at Fabletics that was also offering free hand massages with their b(ahhh)dy butter outside the store. With it being the weekend after Thanksgiving, the pair wanted people to self-care while doing their holiday shopping. In addition, Garner shared with pride about being the first wholesale client for Rufescent, a lipstick brand for Black women, owned by Kristin McIntyre.
“The products that we use every day, none of those are usually owned by Black women, right? And you think about, ‘Okay, I’ve got a hair cream here, and maybe a candle company here that I support.’ But what about everything that you actually use day to day? Those actually should be from Black-owned businesses,” Garner said. “We should be supporting each other. And so, for us, we created a supplier diversity portal. That’s how serious we are about it.”
Their supplier diversity portal has an intake process in which they also consult with brands to ensure their success. Garner said of McIntyre’s Rufescent lipstick shades of red for melanated people…
“Now, she has the ability, she knows what it takes, she knows exactly what it looks like to get a wholesale order. That changes her life. That changes her company’s life. That changes her family’s life. So, for us, that’s the trickle down. We want to see that trickle down in every single Black-owned, woman-owned business that we support.”
The launch of BetternessBody b(ahhh)dy butter is so much bigger than a product. It reinforces the desire of Garner and Gilmore-McPherson to continue to grow and maintain an ecosystem of Black-owned businesses, while getting Black people to prioritize self-care.
“We’re an exploration platform. We want you to explore,” Garner said. “You may not like every single thing in the subscription box, but now you can build your own box and rebuy the things you loved in boxes. And, of course, the butter’s going to be in the shop.”
