Hidden Gems: Meet Lisa Christopherson

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Christopherson.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I heard about human trafficking, 18 years ago while attending a leadership conference in Colorado. I had always been an advocate for social justice and I was shocked and indignant, and my heart quickened to do something about it.

At the time, I still had four children at home and wasn’t sure what I could do. A year later, after reading, a historical novel, about prostitution, and hearing a known activist say… it’s easy to get the girl out of the brothel, but hard to get the brothel out of the girl’, I realized I needed to seriously figure out what I could do.

After hearing about the work in India to help those coming out of the red light District, and finding out that they were making products to start a new life and give them safe, working environments, I quickly realized I knew how to shop and have some influence to markets here in northern Colorado.

I started buying products from the Survivors and bringing them to the United States with the help of a local nonprofit. We’ve continued that work and has proven to be very successful to help in the areas we work in overseas. Throughout the years, however, we realized that it is just as bad here in the United States and the problem of human trafficking is getting worse.

So I started a for-profit brand with my business partner six years ago, called Beauty REnewed. We develop products and provide economic empowerment workshops to build our brand here in the United States and overseas.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The struggle from the beginning has been sustainability. Creating something that lives beyond yourself is hard when operations and economic empowerment depend on sales. I find marketing and sharing the story to be difficult when you are in the trenches doing the work.

This type of work requires sales, donations, and established businesses to provide the best for marginalized communities. We serve. It has been a hard few years to establish the brick-and-mortar establishment, the brand, and a foundation to help provide operational support. It’s definitely a mountain to climb with a summit in view and hope that we can make this sustainable.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
After working in the anti-trafficking field for many years, I had the opportunity to purchase a salon for my daughter, who was a survivor of a severe domestic violence situation out of Kansas. So my brand Beauty REnewed became a salon, spa, and boutique, which also provides opportunities for cosmetologists to work.

Along with my business partner, Kristi Cannon, we purchased a half-city block on Main Street in Wellington, Colorado to house our brand and the work that we do. We have a full-day spa and a patio cocktail and wine bar, with an event tent on the back of our property. My goal in life is to do two things: provide opportunity for individuals, especially those in marginalized communities, and create space for the opportunity to happen

I am extremely proud of our brand and logo. This was developed on one of my overseas trips to Nepal. I was walking alongside a beautiful woman who had been trafficked into India as a young girl. She was able to get out and go back to her homeland but had to reinvent herself. Alongside the road we were walking there were thousands of horrible-looking weeds that had thistles and thorns all over them. I was thinking that it would be horrible to walk through that field.

My thoughts were interrupted by the woman who said ‘She is that weed.’ I quickly told her that’s not true, but she interrupted me and said you don’t understand… if you pick that weed and boil it down to tea, it becomes nourishment for your body… if you pick that weed and refine it into thread, it becomes linen… I am beauty REnewed! I knew right then that that is our brand!

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check?
I absolutely love my moleskin journal. It keeps me organized and have in recent years started using the smart journal. I can go back over 10 years and find information in my journals. I also use an Ink and Volt dashboard notepad. This notepad keeps me on task to accomplish my to-do list for the week.

I spend a lot of my time planning and creating processes so the more I can be organized the better. That does not mean that I don’t chase rabbits here and there. Lol. I’m very big on, inspirational, speaking, and podcasts. And I love anything that has to do with business and the structure to operate business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.iambeautyrenewed.com and www.wellingtonmanorevents.com
• Instagram: @Beautyrenewed_salon
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beautyrenewedsalonandspa?mibextid=LQQJ4d and https://www.facebook.com/iambeautyrenewed?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Beauty REnewed Salon, Spa, and Boutique