Lesley Thornton is the founder of Klur. A purpose-driven, eco-inclusive, botanical skincare line. Before founding Klur, Lesley made her way across the beauty industry spectrum, beginning at Estee’ Lauder as a beauty trainer. She then transitioned to working as a freelance makeup artist specialising in editorial and advertising. From there Thornton was cast as an on-air beauty expert for the TLC network.

In 2010 she obtained her aesthetician’s license and started her own private practice. After years in the industry, she was equally frustrated by the harmful but hard-working conventional beauty products, but also the lack of rigorous R&D and science to back up green beauty products.

Today we speak first about Lesley's experiences as a young woman volunteering in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and how her experiences of social injustice and environmental racism there impacted her life forever. It led her to believe that community based action was a powerful antidote to the status quo, and it's obvious that the passion from those life changing experiences still drives her today. 

After a decade in the beauty industry, she realised that there was little to no representation for people of colour in the clean beauty space. She realised that the real issue lay in the lack of consideration for science and data, prioritisation of Eurocentric beauty, and absence of education available to most consumers. So, she quietly built Klur, from top to bottom, with no team or funding, relying on her own relentless desire to build responsible products that deliver consistent results through elegant and luxurious formulations.

Cora and Lesley move on to discuss the importance that clean beauty be inclusive of everyone, and also how other factors of wellness play such a huge role in the effectiveness or any clean beauty regime. They also talk about the importance of eating well, and how anyone, no matter what their background or economic situation, can engage with a better way of eating - from farmer's markets to growing your own vegetables wherever possible. They also touch upon how all consumers can better support black owned businesses and black voices in the fight for a better, more just world. 

This is an incredibly powerful conversation with a woman who believes that social justice, health, beauty and environment all go hand in hand.