Alaffia

This free trade skincare brand was founded by Olowo-n’djo Tchala in 1996. Alaffia’s mission is to help West African communities become sustainable through fair trade of shea butter and other indigenous resources. The company supports empowerment projects like maternal health care and reforestation. Find it in our Body Care Department.

Really Raw

Baltimore-based couple Victor and Mimi Bennett got their first taste of raw, unfiltered honey during a visit to upstate New York in 1986. Its rich, creamy texture and health benefits inspired them to start Really Raw Honey, which offers unprocessed honey with a spreadable texture that’s punctuated by delightfully crunchy honeycomb bits. The Bennetts work with a network of family beekeepers who support each other by sharing knowledge, ideas, and equipment.

A Dozen Cousins

Basir’s love of food and the way it brings people together inspired him to pursue a career in the food industry. After getting his MBA, he landed at General Mills, working on conventional food brands before relocating to the west coast and shifting into the natural products space. But while he was passionate about the work, he found himself facing an inner conflict.

“In my life in Berkeley, I was really focused on clean eating and organic foods,” he says. But those things weren’t top of mind when Basir was growing up in a working-class Black and Latino community in Brooklyn, NY—something he would be reminded of when he returned home. “It was more of a focus on joy and culture. ‘Does it taste good? Whose recipe did you use? Where did this come from?’”

Basir realized he was straddling two worlds. If he could combine his cultural roots with what he’d learned about ingredient quality, sourcing, and innovation throughout his career, he could bring those worlds together—and in the process, bring healthy food to an audience the industry had long overlooked.

A Dozen Cousins is the result. Named after Basir’s family (including his nine siblings, 11 nieces and nephews, and his daughter), the brand offers ready-to-eat, seasoned legumes with flavors inspired by Creole, Caribbean, and Latin American cuisine. “I started this brand with the goal of speaking very specifically to an audience that wasn’t being addressed by other brands,” Basir says.

While the choice to focus on beans was in part because they’re healthy and easily elevated with craveable flavors, culture was as essential an ingredient as garlic and spices. Beans, Basir explains, are familiar to the consumers he was trying to reach. “I wanted [our product] to be something people had a natural affinity for,” he says, adding that beans historically have had pride of place in Black and Latino cuisine. From red beans in Louisiana to pinto beans in Mexico to black beans in the Caribbean, “every region has beans they hold near and dear.”