Company Values Series - Female Empowerment & Employee Highlight

Company values serve as a guide to how a company should run and are integrated into the company’s mission statement and decision-making processes. These values not only provide the basis for how the company should run but also manifest themselves through the actions and lives of its employees.

Bella Ella Boutique is no different. Built from the ground up by a single mom with the need to provide for her baby, Bella Ella values hard-work, kindness, self-love, and most importantly, female empowerment. With over half of the management positions held by females and women making up 90% of the employees, Bella Ella Boutique embodies their mantra of female empowerment.

Company values are often determined by management, and simply writing down a list of values doesn’t make them effective. What puts the power behind these values are the customers and clients who use and purchase from the company, and more importantly, the employees who are walking examples of these values.

“Everyday I made my girls come into work and tell me three things they loved about themselves. They thought it was silly at first, but as we went it got easier for the girls to find things that they loved about themselves,” said Chelsea. She even hung up a sign near the dressing rooms that said, "What do you love about yourself today?" because empowering her customers is just as important as empowering her employees.

Empowering women is at the top of Chelsea's goals. She and her team are constantly helping women to feel better in their own skin and it’s so much easier to do if one already feels confident in herself. “Bella Ella’s mission is to empower women and the best way to start is within our own teams. Creating a safe fun environment for these sweet girls I work with every day helps them to respect and love me just as much as it helps me.”

Chelsea says that people laugh at her, but Bella Ella has become her religion. She spends every day worrying and hoping for the best for this company. “Bella came to me at a really low time in my life. I was working 9-5 at a call center and had become really depressed but I was doing what I had to do to pay the bills. I applied not thinking anything of it and was pretty sure nothing would come of it. Boy was I wrong. It sounds silly to some but Bella Ella has given me something to live for every day. Not only am I getting to live out someone else's dream, but I’ve been empowered to live out mine as well.” One of Chelsea’s biggest goals in life is to make women feel comfortable in their own skin. She wants them to see their real value every day and that’s something she’s able to do on the daily at Bella Ella. Chelsea says that shopping gives people an opportunity to really open up. “I love being able to see peoples raw genuine soul.”

She has helped make these meetings a collaborative way for employees to contemplate, discuss, and plan how to act on these values with each other. On another note, Bella Ella is always looking to give back; Kira is planning a company-wide service project at a woman’s shelter as a way to give back to the community and help empower women. One of the biggest projects Kira has taken on is company culture and employee retention efforts. She helps new hires get comfortable within the company by starting them off with an office tour to meet everybody, writing them a welcome letter, and giving them a credit towards their first purchase from the company store. When employees are ready to leave the company, she thanks them for their hard work and sends them off on good terms. Kira also has designs in the works for employee merchandise and plans for a company party.

Kira says that “Bella Ella is a special place that I want to contribute to. The people, tasks, and management are all extremely supportive, and I truly want Bella Ella to succeed, not because I care about the clothes, but because each individual member of our team has brought some goodness into my life.” She also says that The Culture Committee has been for her own personal growth and has helped to prevent her from floating through another job. Kira’s final words of wisdom on company culture are that everyone deserves credit. “They are the culture! The people in the office make me laugh, they forgive my shortcomings, everyone is so willing to help. Management gave me the opportunity to create our company culture and give me all the support I need." Kira realizes how hard each employee works and wants them to feel appreciated. While the rewards dolled out may be small, she thinks they will go a long way in the eyes of the employees.”

In the last three years, Lauren has been on humanitarian trips to Lima and Cusco, Peru; Ghana, Africa; and most recently, Athens and Lesvos Island in Greece. She’s built elementary school classrooms in the poor parts of Lima, run a football camp for teenage boys and worked with a charity that donates new beds and supplies to the pediatric part of the local hospital in Ghana, and served in two refugee camps using music and art therapy to connect with the refugees in Greece.

One of the ways that Lauren practices self-love is through service and helping to empower others. She says that the happiest she has ever been was when she was in Peru, Africa, and Greece serving those people. She says that while she is "just one person in this world, I feel like I made a difference in someone's life. It might not be a huge difference, but the people were different from the time I got there to the time I left; they smiled more and that’s all I could have asked for.”

Lauren began working at Bella Ella as a way for her to earn spending money; it was just a job to her. Her mentality quickly changed from it being another retail job to a place she wanted to be because of the people she worked with, customers she served, and the message that Bella Ella Boutique shares with women. When it comes to the Bella Ella message of women empowerment, Lauren says that “as a 16-year-old girl I really needed that boost of self-confidence in my life and Bella Ella gave that to me. Bella Ella teaches women to embrace themselves and to love themselves and I don't think there is a more important lesson to teach a girl than that.” Lauren strives to apply the lessons she’s learned from her time at Bella Ella and her humanitarian trips to her everyday work life to uplift and empower herself, her co-workers, and her customers.

We wouldn't be Bella Ella Boutique without the amazing people behind the scenes and our loyal customers living out our mission every day. We hope to continue spreading our message of hard-work, female empowerment, and self-love through our employees and customers.

Let's chat! What empowers you to be your true self? Leave it in the comments below!