In Brazil, cross-industry collaboration is helping combat COVID-19

By Deanna Utroske

- Last updated on GMT

© Getty Images \ (MachineHeadz)
© Getty Images \ (MachineHeadz)

Related tags coronavirus Brazil LATAM

Latin America is now the epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic. And cosmetics and personal care professionals have been stepping up to help in that region for weeks. Now, one grassroots campaign in Brazil is betting on the power of collaboration.

Tatiane Paixão, a PR professional who’s worked with the São Paulo, Brazil – based beauty ingredient supplier Chemyunion for several years, recently helped launched a fundraising campaign. #EquiparPraSalvar is a crowdfunding campaign raising money for Hospital São Paulo​ to purchase the personal protective equipment (PPE) that medical professionals there need to keep themselves and their patients safe.

#EquiparPraSalvar is an initiative begun among friends

#EquiparPraSalvar is reminiscent of grassroots support efforts here in the states, like Donate Beauty, an initiative led by beauty editors that’s helping brands donate product to front-line workers.

But this effort in Brazil was created by a group of 5 friends: jewelry designer Ana Carolina Queiroz, 2 journalists Caroline Pasternack and Kelly Boscarioli, marketing consultant Poranga Miranda, and Paixão (who, as mentioned above, is in PR).

As Paixão tells Cosmetics Design, #EquiparPraSalvar is a campaign meant to support and celebrate life “during this surreal pandemic crisis.” ​It’s a “social action [that] aims to raise funds to support health professionals…at Hospital São Paulo, recognized as one of the most important and respected medical education centers in Brazil,” ​she explains.

To meet their goal, the 5 friends set up a crowdfunding campaign on catarse.me, a site that bills itself as the “largest crowdfunding community in Brazil” ​and is usually flush with funding campaigns raising money for projects from artists, designers, musicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, etc.

The initial goal of #EquiparPraSalvar is to raise $150,000 Brazilian Real​ (which is just over $28,000 US dollars) and fund PPE for some 350 people working at Hospital São Paulo.

#EquiparPraSalvar is in good company

Beauty industry pros in Brazil, the LATAM region, and beyond are hoping and helping to see this section of the world come through the pandemic in the best condition possible.  

And of course, not all efforts to combat the Coronavirus crisis in Brazil are grassroots. Multinational beauty makers have launched very multinational initiatives to help people all around the world that make this business possible, on the supply side, the consumer side, and everywhere in between.

L’Oréal, for instance, is working with local organizations in Rio de Janeiro to get hygiene and personal care products to people who very much need in them in and around that city, as Cosmetics Design reported late last month.

And researchers are watching every market to see how the cosmetics and personal care industry weathers this crisis region-by-region and as a whole. In April, Amanda Caridad, Senior Analyst Beauty & Personal Care at Mintel, told this publication about LATAM’s renewed “attention on the need of germ-free body and home [care];”​ as well as about consumers understanding that “beauty rituals can help improve mood.”

If you have news or insights to share about the beauty industry in Latin America (during the Coronavirus or otherwise), feel free to email CosmeticsDesign.com Editor Deanna Utroske at qrnaan.hgebfxr@jeoz.pbz​.

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DeannaUtroske-smallphoto

Deanna Utroske is a leading voice in the cosmetics and personal care industry as well as in the indie beauty movement. As Editor of CosmeticsDesign.com, she writes daily news about the business of beauty in the Americas region and regularly produces video interviews with cosmetics, fragrance, personal care, and packaging experts as well as with indie brand founders. CLICK HERE to discover more promising industry news taking place during the pandemic.

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