Not just another subscription box service, The Stay Beautiful Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization, delivers free monthly boxes of clean beauty and self-care products to women affected by cancer. The goal is to help these women “glow through what they go through,” according to 28-year old Founder Ashleigh Cortes, who was inspired by her late grandmother’s life and death.
 
Cortes’ grandmother was a Black entrepreneur in the beauty space—the owner of a day spa on Chicago's historic Michigan Avenue who lost her battle with cancer in 2014.  
 
“As a young girl, I remember the spa feeling like a peaceful sanctuary, and I always loved the beautiful manicure room which overlooked the city of Chicago. There was a sense of serenity that my grandmother created in her spa. It was a place people could go to and leave refreshed, and renewed after receiving their services. My grandmother loved taking care of others and making people feel beautiful —it was definitely one of her favorite parts about owning her own spa,” Cortes said.
 
When she was in treatment, Cortes’ grandmother missed the products that she used at the spa.
 
“My grandmother felt most beautiful when she looked good, it was her form of therapy,” said Cortes, who would collect items from the spa and bring them to her grandmother when she was being treated because she didn’t like the options provided in the hospital.
 
Her grandmother’s fight against cancer ignited a fire in Cortes.
 
“I began putting some of her favorite products in boxes and giving them to a few family and friends who had been affected by cancer,” she said.
 
The Stay Beautiful Foundation started shipping products in 2018, and to date has delivered approximately 1,000 boxes to women undergoing cancer treatment across the US. The nonprofit currently has more than 400 monthly subscribers, according to Cortes, who runs the foundation and still has her full-time job as an account manager with Salesforce.
 
Her goal for Stay Beautiful is to reach even more women this year.
 
“We are eager and excited to double this number with the goal of delivering 2,021 boxes in 2021,” Cortes told Happi, noting that her organization is always looking for partnerships and sponsorships from brands that want to be part of women's journey to healing. 
 

Brands such as Milk Makeup, Dashing Diva and Vital Proteins have been included in boxes since the launch.
 
“We are looking to team up with brands that would be willing to provide an in-kind product donation of items that are clean—ingredient transparency is very important to us,” she said. 
 
The boxes are free and ship directly to women undergoing treatment, so “we heavily rely on donations from beauty brands to help make this all possible,” she added.
 
Cortes’ vision is to create a community beyond the beauty boxes and empower women to feel their beautiful selves inside and out wherever they are in their journey with cancer. 
 
For Cortes, the warrior women who receive the boxes—whom she calls ‘beauties”—are the heart and soul of the mission. 
 
“Seeing our beauties feel supported and have a community to be part of that uplifts and inspires them is priceless. It’s so important to help these women stay motivated, inspired and beautiful during this difficult time, and it’s beyond gratifying knowing The Stay Beautiful Foundation is having a direct impact on women’s self-esteem in that way. It’s what it’s all about.”
 
Beauty, skin care and wellness brands that are interested in participating or learning more, can email [email protected].