Second-year business students Tessa Yin and Trixie Hernandez are passionate about making the world a better place for the disadvantaged. Together they founded The Foundation Foundation, which provides women who have been victims of rape, trafficking and abuse with cosmetic and hygiene products. TFF currently works with Wish Vancouver and the Downtown East Side Women’s Center. They are currently accepting donations of new and lightly used cosmetics, so check out TFF Facebook page to get in touch about making a donation.
Can you tell me a little bit about yourselves and how you came up with the idea for The Foundation Foundation (TFF)?
Trixie: I like food, cats, and really bad puns. I’m Trixie, currently studying business while watching Arrested Development, simultaneously. It started when I found a pretty similar project going on in Britain. We were both pretty excited to donate stuff to that when we found out it had shut down due to the sheer volume of donations. Then, we realized that there were women in need here in Vancouver too and that there are so many girls on campus who are more than willing to donate their makeup.
Tessa: I am the co-founder of The Foundation Foundation, a big fan of small cats and large dogs, and currently studying business while watching Friends, simultaneously. After Trixie mentioned about the London project, I thought it would be an awesome idea to help the local community – lots of university students are very eager to lend a hand!
Was it difficult to start TFF and how did you turn the idea into a reality?
Trixie: We did a lot of planning before our launch in February this year – things like how we’d collect donations, where to bring the makeup, and what our logo would look like. Then, we just shared the crap out of our Facebook page. The support from our friends, families, and the community in general has been overwhelming.
Tessa: It’s one thing to talk about a project, however it’s a completely different thing to actually sit down and initiate the first steps of the project. After a whole lot of thinking and planning, I think we just decided to finally release our idea into the world – almost like Kickstarter – and it was a surprise to see the amount of support that we have received. (100 ‘Likes’ in one hour!) We managed to drop off two rounds of donations to local women’s shelters. This all would’ve never happened without the initial courage to launch the Facebook page.
How many people are involved in TFF?
Trixie: Technically, it’s just the two of us. But really, I think the lifeblood of this project has been the people that have donated, shown their support, and been willing to spread the word about The Foundation Foundation! We get very excited each time we get a message about a possible donation, because it’s nice to know that people have not forgotten about TFF.
How can someone get involved and/or donate?
TFF: Right now, we personally meet up with anyone who wants to donate anything from makeup, to paper bags, to the fancy tissue paper you get in gifts sometimes. Just shoot us a quick message and we’ll reply as soon as possible! If there are organizations, clubs, or businesses that want to lend a helping hand, we’d be super open to that too.
What are some goals that TFF hopes to achieve this year?
TFF: Once we’ve set up some roots by getting drop boxes in local businesses or offices, we’d love to get the word out to more than just the UBC Campus. I think Vancouver has an incredible capacity for generosity and love. Fundraising is also another of our goals because having a bit of capital would help us a lot. Right now, our short-term goal is to generate interest and communication from the UBC community – I mean, 50,000 people is a huge untapped market! Long-term goals would be to establish drop-off bins around campus, so we won’t have to personally make so many trips to meet up with donors, and eventually we would like to contact corporations such as Sephora to set up bins in stores.
Why do you think it is important for disadvantaged women to have access to these types of products?
TFF: For us, makeup has been such a source of confidence and it allows us to project the best version of ourselves. Melanie Murphy once said, “To me, makeup is important because it powers people. In this life, we should do anything that makes us feel happy, confident, and beautiful and that is how makeup makes me feel.” It’s not about looking pretty to deceive other people, it’s about appreciating the luxury of more than just the basics. If a tiny bit of concealer makes our day so much better, why can’t everyone have access to it? We live in a society where first impressions matter a whole lot, and these products help us feel more confident about our self-image. We easily take things for granted, and I think it’s important to ‘pay it forward’ and help others who are in need of getting a head start in their new lives.
I’ve noticed that there is a lot of social justice and feminist issues posted on TFF’s Facebook page, which I think is great. Do you think these issues affect TFF and have you always intended to raise awareness to these issues when TFF was founded?
TFF: I think the issue at hand is that the women from Wish Vancouver and DTES Women’s Center are underprivileged because they come from a position of disadvantage due circumstances they cannot control. Our goal stretches beyond more than the distribution of cosmetics—it’s about making the world better for women of color, LGBTQ people, victims of rape, trafficking, domestic abuse, and so many more. What TFF brings to the table is only a small percentage of the underlying message of feminism and human rights. For example, when we post about disabled women being featured in New York Fashion Week we are tackling the world issue of self-image, confidence, unraveling media’s misrepresentation of the ‘perfect woman’, and more. We thought it would be a good place to raise awareness. Change comes from knowledge and by bringing these issues to light. I hope that something stirs in the heart of others what stirred in ours.
Find out more about Wish Vancouver and DTES Women’s Center, or set up a donation pickup with TFF.