At the start of this year, the Organic & Natural Health Association announced a partnership with the Williams-Franklin Foundation with the objective to create more opportunities in the natural products industry for students and graduates of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

As part of the partnership, Organic & Natural Health will help raise $50,000 for the Williams-Franklin Foundation during the next five years to support education expenses for HBCU students, to be held in a designated fund for the entire industry to contribute to called, “Organic & Natural Health Scholarship Fund.”

The Williams-Franklin Foundation is led by the dynamic husband and wife team, Dwight and LaShelle (Williams) Franklin, both HBCU graduates, who used their own seed money to launch the foundation in 2014. In a very short time they have successfully raised thousands of dollars that have since impacted the lives of many HBCU students. The Foundation is a 501(c)3 incorporated non-profit that provides academic scholarships, business/career networking, and mentoring opportunities to HBCU students with extreme financial need. Anyone in the industry can give a tax-deductible donation that goes directly to the fund by selecting “Organic & Natural Health Fund” in the drop box when donating.

In addition to raising scholarship monies, we are committed to supporting networking opportunities for HBCU students, graduates, and natural health executives with the purpose of igniting internships and career opportunities, while helping create a more diverse and inclusive industry.

The Big Lift
Why is an industry trade association raising awareness on this cause? Creating a healthy planet for healthy people is a big lift. It requires attention to air, soil, and water. It demands attention to product production, effectiveness, and safety. Yet, it only matters if all consumers, not just those we represent, can benefit by owning their health needs. So yes, our efforts relating to SynBio, pesticides, the organic standard, and its sister efforts in regenerative and biodynamic farming are essential to ensuring consumers have access to the best quality products in the market. And, if there was any doubt of the importance of effective supplementation, it has disappeared with the onset of a pandemic and health outcomes that have direct correlation to vitamin D levels. 

We know Black Americans have health disparities when it comes to the underlying health conditions associated with COVID-19, each of which is related to vitamin D deficiency, a chronic condition for the vast majority of Blacks, who have twice the death rate from COVID-19 as whites. Organic & Natural Health has taken the lead in the industry to provide consumer education on vitamin D and pivoted to focus on the interests of Black Americans with the onset of the pandemic. These are Americans who have families, work on our frontlines, and live in communities that are often most at risk, where sometimes social distancing is a luxury, not an option. They are also the ones who stand to benefit the most from access to our goods and services during the pandemic.

A Long Way to Go
In 2019, the J.E.D.I. Collaborative conducted a benchmarking survey on diversity in the U.S. natural products market with New Hope Media and Informa Markets. The results were both shocking and obvious. We have a long way to go. 

Industry leadership teams and boards are prominently white and male (more than 80%). Women fare better in companies with 10 or fewer employees where women represent 36% of board members, versus 23% in companies with more than 50 people. Women holding leadership positions do even better in smaller companies with 60% representation, versus 23% in companies with more than 50 people. While corporations clearly have more progress to make when it comes to supporting women in leadership, the statistics on the number of people of color in our industry in no way represent society as a whole. According to the J.E.D.I survey:

• Board representation for people of color totals 18% for companies with 10 or fewer employees, 14% for companies with 10-50 employees, and 7% for companies with more than 50 employees. 
• Only 27% of leadership positions are held by people of color in companies with 10 or fewer employees, and that figure drops to 18% in companies with 10-50 employees, and 16% in companies with more than 50 employees.
• Break these figures down further and we learn that those who identify as Black/African American hold only 2% of board positions and 2% of leadership positions.  

According to New Hope Network’s Consumer Segmentation Survey, 73% of customers in the natural and organic space are white, while people of color make up 27%, and a substantially smaller percentage is Black Americans. Indeed, we have a long way to go.

Creating a More Diverse and Inclusive Industry
Kantha Shelke, food scientist and principal of Corvus Blue LLC, shared her perspective on why diversity and inclusion is good for business at Organic & Natural Health’s annual conference. She noted the natural products industry speaks of itself as a business that is a force for good, with a desire to balance the interests of people, planet, and profit.

The dietary supplement industry itself, Shelke went on to say, focuses on creating more conscientious, authentic, and responsible products, supply chains, and business cultures. She added, “We believe doing good is good for business.”

Yet, Shelke said there is a gaping hole when it comes to diversity and inclusion, which are both different and equally important factors. She shared with us data contained in a Deloitte business case study for inclusion* stating, organizations with inclusive cultures are:

• Two times more likely to meet or exceed financial goals;
• Three times more likely to be high performing;
• Six times more likely to be innovative and agile; and
• Eight times more likely to achieve better business outcomes.

*Source: Juliet Bourke “Which two heads are better than one? How diverse teams create breakthrough ideas and make smarter decisions,” Australian Institute of Company Directors, 2016

In Shelke’s words, people are rarely treated equally. People, she said, should be treated equitably—a difficult task. What works best is to eliminate the inequities, or barriers, and treat everyone the same, without reservation. This is difficult, yet essential work, for which she gave us a road map.


Supporting HBCUs
Another speaker at our conference was Brian Terry, national sales manager for Nordic Naturals and Xavier University graduate, who outlined the talent of the more than 50,000 students graduating from 101 HBCUs in 19 states across the country, stating HBCUs are responsible for graduating:

• 80% of all Black Doctors
• 80% of all Black Judges
• 75% of all Black PhDs
• 75% of all Black Military Officers
• 50% of all Black Pharmacists
• 50% of all Black Attorneys
• 46% of all Black Business Executives
• 40% of all Black Dentists

As Terry noted, we must start with recruitment, and a desire to attract talent and embrace different cultures outside our usual norms. We must also include mentoring—pairing and partnering people to help recruited professionals have success in our industry. And, there must be a focus on retention to keep highly talented people in the industry with promotion opportunities and by creating a genuine feeling of belonging.

We can never achieve our vision without opening our doors wider. That is why, as an association committed to creating a healthy planet for healthy people in an industry that believes doing good work is good business, diversity and inclusion is an important issue to us. There are too many Americans who are not availing themselves of our nutritional offerings, perhaps in part, because the companies in our industry do not adequately reflect their cultures. Therefore, as an industry we limit our reach and success by not availing ourselves of diversity in color and talent.

Which brings us back to the Williams-Franklin Foundation. What better way, as an industry, to demonstrate our commitment to diversity and inclusion than to support the students attending these illustrious HBCUs. This cause is not ours to own. We are simply ambassadors, opening doors to our leadership, introducing students to natural and organic career pathways, enabling all of us to expand our worldview, and at the same time ensure the growth of an industry that is so much more than sales and marketing. If we are to leave an honorable legacy, enable Americans of all color the ability to take control of their health, and build that healthy planet for healthy people, we simply must change the complexion of the industry. Let’s use this time and place of confusion and dissension to be a healing force, support young Black professionals in their education, and transform our own work culture.

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About the Author: Karen Howard, CEO and Executive Director of Organic & Natural Health Association is a visionary and results-focused leader who has spent more than 30 years working with Congress, state legislatures, and healthcare organizations to develop innovative healthcare policy and programs. She has held a variety of executive positions, including serving as professional staff for a Congressional committee, and has policy expertise in the diverse areas of integrative and complementary medicine, managed care, healthcare technology, and mental health. An advocate at heart, she has worked to strategically advance the mission and vision of organizations through effective advocacy and strong collaboration. For more information: www.organicandnatural.org.