Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Whittaker.
Danielle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m a giddy and grateful educator and consultant with Beautycounter. I’ve been a working actress since I was 21 and hit a financial crossroads on a recent big birthday. My old Yale friend with whom I’d recently reconnected on a deep level decided to gift me with Beautycounter consultancy –one of the most powerful and meaningful gifts I have ever received. Though at the time I thought, “Oh, no, now, this means, I better be worthy of this gift I accepted and at least make some sales. How the heck am I going to do this when I have two kids four and under, mounting debt and a near paralysis over the state of my finances?” You see, since graduating from an ivy-league college and seeing all my friends hit six-figure incomes within a few years, I had lived without a steady income for years, as had my husband, unfortunately. Not once in these last several years, had I a full-time steady pursuit of structure and built-in community beyond a several week play run or a few week film shoot. And my husband had slightly longer runs of employment, but as a producer, it was still freelance. He or I could make huge windfalls one week, and then make zero for weeks at a time, not knowing when or how the next check might come. So, when I’d book something big, my windfalls would always go to paying off debt and catching us up. At the same time, with all of this financial stress, I had to keep my heart open and positive in order to “do my art” and perform at my best. We had been spending more than we were making for YEARS, and still hadn’t figured out how to JUST MAKE MORE because I felt that I had no control over when the casting gods decided to fall in my favor.
I finally decided I could not live like that any longer or my heart would break! So, I made a huge shift and decided that I WOULD NOT live like that anymore and that, no matter what, I would BE and MAKE the change that my family needed. I have been putting my all into making Beautycounter be the success and steady income I’d been yearning for in my life since graduating from a great college and feeling like a failure ever since.
Learning from my life-coach/mindfulness expert mentor in Beautycounter and working through the awesome system Beautycounter provides, I’m able to work around my kids’ schedules, my acting work, my auditions, and my husband’s work as well. I’ve immediately given myself a huge pay raise since month ONE and am working towards total financial freedom in three years. For me, that means the ability to choose any activity or training for my two daughters, any travel opportunity for my family, and any date night to a gourmet restaurant! As a comedic actress, I had always seen myself changing the world through joy and laughter, and I still see that now. With my Beautycounter platform and the happiness and confidence I derive from my successes, my reach with my creative endeavors will only grow.
By working for a mission-based B Corp company with a bottom line that includes people and planet in addition to profit, I am already making a social impact. And with the income, I will be making in just a few years, I will be able to get involved more fully in the philanthropic activities I’ve long yearned to pursue, but felt too desperately in need and unstable to find the time or energy I thought it would require. As in, for years, I have not been living my fully realized authentic present version of myself, but have instead been on PAUSE, waiting for my finances to allow me to breathe. I am now actively breathing the life into my finances and boy, is that lighting a beautiful fire all around me! I never in a million years would have thought that this career could bring me so much satisfaction and joy in such a short time.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has been a bumpy road with many twists and turns. Throughout my career, I struggled with not feeling good enough yet at the moment. It’s taken me all these years to develop a growth mindset and trust that working a little bit or a lot each day will eventually get me somewhere great. Having grown up thinking I was a hard-worker, this was a confusing bit for me. I worked hard and got all A’s, but only within the system of school. Once I graduated from Yale, I had nothing to anchor me to a schedule or structure, and I would start and stop things constantly because A) I didn’t see a finite end goal that was laid out for me and B) I wasn’t immediately an expert or awesome at it. It’s taken me all this time to figure out that I had to lay out my end goal in order to know that was where I was headed, and consistently keep taking steps in the same direction, no matter how small. Otherwise, I just ended up running around in circles and probably lots of zig zags. My path is likely a totally cool contemporary art piece if laid out in paper and a silver pen. The point is, you have to start, and you have to keep going through the pain and the rough patches. Only then will you accomplish something truly great! I actually heard this at a conference from a little girl, the daughter of the CEO of Beautycounter, Georgie Renfrew: “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Beautycounter (www.beautycounter.com/daniellewhittaker) – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I’m doing it all. I’m continuing my work as a commercial and voiceover actress and mom, but my new side hustle turned 30 hour-a-week passion is educating and consulting for an awesome B-corp (95 score — crazy high) — a safe skincare company based in Santa Monica that’s disrupting the beauty industry, advocating for safer and environmentally protective laws as well as providing a solution — high performing, award-winning products for the whole family. We are known for our NEVER LIST. A list of 1400 harmful, questionable or toxic ingredients that we will NEVER use in ANY of our products. We are a mission-based company with a triple bottom line: people, planet, then profit. Our mission is to get safer products into the hands of everyone. Everyone means EVERYONE. We are transparent about our ingredients, from sourcing, to reasons for use, to byproduct testing. Specifically for summer, we have just come out with safer sunscreen that not only protects from UVA and UVB but also from BLUE LIGHT (thanks to antioxidant-rich orange poppy). Sources of blue light include the sun, but also from our cell phones, computers, tablets and TV’s, fluorescent and LED lighting. This is where our innovation shines through! All of our sunscreen is Oxybenzone free. Oxybenzone was just banned in Hawaii and has been linked to cancer and endocrine disruption, and to damaging our coral reefs. Just say no to oxybenzone!
What advice would you give to someone at the start of her career?
Especially right now, women are wanted and needed in positions of power. We need to seize this opportunity to continue to create a world where there are more companies that think about the whole population and the whole Earth when making business decisions. For too long, there has been this imbalance in business and government that has, in turn, created an imbalance in our cultural products. Stories about women, even older women, are being told more than ever, giving women, young and old, inspiration. We are slowly starting to tell the truth of our power, come into positions of power, and it will only grow from there. I think women are particularly well positioned to lead large groups of people to become better citizens of the world. I’m the boss at home, why wouldn’t I be a boss at work, too? That’s why having my own business has been so effortless for me. I love directing myself and mentoring other women.
Pricing:
- Countersun Mineral Sunscreen Stick SPF 30 $20
- Countersun Mineral Sunscreen Mist SPF 30 $36
- Dew Skin Moisturizing Coverage SPF 20 (tinted moisturizer) $45
- Color Intense Lipstick $34
- No. 1 Brightening Facial Oil $69
- Super Duper Clean Kids Body Wash $19
- Baby Daily Protective Balm (safer version of Aquaphor) $22
- Baby Calming Diaper Rash Cream $18
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.beautycounter.com/daniellewhittaker
- Phone: 310-699-9061
- Instagram: @missdanihart
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dhwhittaker
- Other: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1925939/
Image Credit:
Counterbrands, LLC
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
