2020 was an incredibly exciting year for Hill House Home. Our hero product, the the Nap Dress®, has found a home in closets in 56 countries across the world. We’ve met new friends and strengthened our relationship with those who have been with us since our launch in 2016. We are humbled by the incredible response and cannot wait to continue to build.
With growth comes an exciting opportunity to assess our mission and consider the role of social impact in the organization at large.
This annual report allows us to update our community and provide a space for accountability.
DEIB Board
A central touchstone of our year was the creation of a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Board, tasked with providing key strategic insights and ensuring accountability. Together, the Board has worked closely to setting standards for recruiting, hiring and promoting BIPOC talent and to disburse our $100k Pledge.
We are incredibly grateful to the Board for their time and energy. Please find brief bios of the Board below.
ZANETA CLARK
Zaneta Koplewicz is a Managjng Director at Blackstone within the Real Estate Institutional Client Solutions Group. Prior to joining Blackstone, Zaneta was a Managing Director at BlackRock and spent 14 years as a Senior Product Strategist and Relationship Manager across the Alternatives and Institutional businesses. Zaneta was also instrumental in BlackRock’s Sustainability efforts, leading a global working group which served a a key catalyst for the establishment of BlackRock Sustainable Investments. Zaneta lives in New York City with her husband, Adam, and their two children.
ALEXIS JENKINS
Alexis Jenkins is the Head of People Operations at Dame Products. Over the past 10 years she has provided startups the framework to scale their culture and people management practices on a foundation of inclusivity and belonging. Alexis lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.
NESLI DANISMAN
Nesli Danisman, co-founder and principal of Angora Group, has more than 30 years of experience in the fashion industry, working with such brands as Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Anthropologie, and Charivari. For the past three years at Angora, Nesli, while steering companies to maximize efficient product development, has zeroed in on helping brands reduce waste and push for supply-chain transparency. Angora’s client base is much sought-after and wide-ranging: launching brands and concepts from the likes of Frank Ocean, Kanye West, and Hilary Swank; myriad startups, including UNTUCKit, Gabriela Hearst, Outdoor Voices, and Draper James; and established brands such as Kate Spade, Glossier, The Row, The Standard Hotel Group, and Jordache.
Martina Vann is a technical designer manager with over 20 years of experience. Martina has been a key partner to Hill House Home since 2019, providing technical expertise across a broad range of product categories. Martina enjoys bringing creativity and a spirit of fun to her work. Martina lives in New Jersey with her two Lovebirds Vannity and SeVann.
100k Pledge
Last year, we pledged $100,000 to non-profits focused on Racial Justice and Equity, including the Wowen’s Prison Association, The Loveland Foundation, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, the NAACP LDF, and more.
We surpassed our giving goal and delivered $119,000 to seven organizations, listed below. We are grateful for the opportunity to support these incredible non-profits and their lifesaving work. Please join us in supporting their work through the links and information below:
WPA is the nation’s first organization for women impacted by incarceration. WPA addresses the root causes of systems involvement, knows the data, and is focused on the needs and nuances of individuals. WPA believes women are the experts in their own lives. They partner with women to drive change that positively impacts families, communities, and society.
Eva’s Home is a nonprofit organization created by a group of Black women dedicated to the education and empowerment of young Black girls through Eva’s Girl Empowerment & Mentorship Program (GEMs) and Eva’s Home for Girls.
Eva’s GEMs is a national virtual mentorship program consisting of classes offering Black girls various resources that can help them throughout their lifetime. Eva’s Home for Girls is a group home committed to providing girls leaving the juvenile justice system and suffering from the collateral consequences of the system, looking for better opportunities, a home to live in, and a familial support system to allow them to be their most fabulous self.
Black Mamas Matter Alliance is a Black women-led cross-sectoral alliance. They center Black mamas to advocate, drive research, build power, and shift culture for Black maternal health, rights, and justice. They envision a world where Black mamas have the rights, respect, and resources to thrive before, during, and after pregnancy.
The Loveland Foundation was established in 2018 by Rachel Cargle in response to her widely successful birthday wish fundraiser, Therapy for Black Women and Girls. Her enthusiastic social media community raised over $250,000, which made it possible for Black women and girls nationally to receive therapy support. Black women and girls deserve access to healing, and that healing will impact generations. The Loveland Foundation is the official continuation of this effort to bring opportunity and healing to communities of color, and especially to Black women and girls. Through fellowships, residency programs, listening tours, and more, ultimately we hope to contribute to both the empowerment and the liberation of the communities we serve.
Black Women for Wellness is committed to the health and well-being of Black women and girls through health education, empowerment and advocacy. Black Women for Wellness aims to expand healthcare access, reduce toxic hair care chemicals that are prevalent in our community and build political advocacy in California and beyond.
National Black Women’s Justice Institute
The National Black Women’s Justice Institute (NBWJI) aims to eliminate racial and gender disparities in the U.S. criminal legal system that are responsible for its disproportionate impact on Black women, girls, and gender nonconforming people. They engage in rigorous research and capacity building in order to transform the current system and promote policy change that centers and uplifts the voices and experiences of Black women, girls, and gender nonconforming people who have been impacted by the criminal legal system. They seek to dismantle the punitive paradigm driving the U.S. criminal legal system and build, in its place, pathways to healing and opportunity. NBWJI envisions a society where healing—not punishment—is upheld as justice.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans. LDF also defends the gains and protections won over the past 80 years of civil rights struggle and works to improve the quality and diversity of judicial and executive appointments.
Work with Change Cadet
We continue to work closely with the incomparable Dr. Akilah Cadet of Change Cadet. Change Cadet provides ongoing support for the business as a DEIB advisor. Dr. Cadet’s particular focus in 2020 was been hiring, onboarding and management. To honor the impact Dr. Cadet has had on our business, we named a Summer Nap Dress in her honor: The Akilah Nap Dress. If you would like to work with Change Cadet or become a Monthly pledge member, please find her link here.
Hiring
With the help of our DEIB Board, Dr. Cadet, and Lauren Russell we developed and implemented a thoughtful internal hiring process that we used to hire 8 full-time roles. We are especially grateful to the support of Project Basta in our hiring process. To learn more about Project Basta or to work with them, see their website here.
Board of Directors
We assembled our first ever Board of Directors. The Board is made up of three directors, including our CEO and Founder Nell Diamond, Kimmy Scotti and Sabrina Mallick Peterson.
KIMMY SCOTTI
Kimmy Scotti is a founding partner at 8VC where she focuses on consumer and healthcare investments. She also is co-founder and executive chairman of the women’s health and wellness company Monthly Gift. Prior to 8VC, Ms. Scotti served as the Executive Director of Business Development & Operations at a NY Family Office where she incubated and invested in many businesses. Most notably she co-founded a direct-to-consumer healthcare company that has helped millions of Americans afford their prescription medications. Ms. Scotti has also been responsible for the development of several other ventures including WORKS by Nicole Williams, a multi-platform lifestyle brand dedicated to supporting young professional women in their quest for career success. When Ms. Scotti was still in high school she founded Mimz New York, a fashion jewelry line that was sold at Bloomingdales and featured on the hit television show, Project Runway.
SABRINA MALLICK PETERSON
Sabrina is a managing member of Sunset Ventures where she currently serves an advisor, strategist, and operating partner for consumer brands. She is also an angel investor; some investments include Smartypants (acquired by Unilever), Citizen, Knix, Kroma and most recently Ceremonia. Prior to Sunset, she spent the previous decade building mass market consumer brands in food, beverage and beauty while serving as President/CEO at Pure Growth Ventures. Prior to Prue Growth, Sabrina worked at Credit Suisse and Citigroup focusing on due diligence, underwriting, institutional fundraising and capital markets. She currently serves on the boards of Hill House Home, Princess House and is President of the Board for Grace Church Nursery School. Though originally from Texas, she lives in Brooklyn with her three sons and husband. She graduated with an AB in Politics from Princeton University.
40 Winks Blog
We have continued to amplify BIPOC voices and businesses across our digital channels, with a focus on our 40 Winks Blog. Including Sophia Demirtas of Fanm Mon, Nyakio Grieco of Nyakio, Sydney Oh of Milk and Clay, and personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi. It is crucially important to us to continue to use our platforms to share BIPOC stories and promote BIPOC businesses, and we are actively seeking recommendations for new subjects. If you or someone you know may be a good fit for either the Next to My Bed or Birth Story verticals, please customercare@hillhousehome.com with a brief nomination.
In Closing
A fundamental tenet of our business is respect; respect for the communities in which we operate, the teams of people that support our growth, and the environment that fuels everything we do.
Hill House Home works closely with internal teams and industry experts to set standards for all levels of the business.
This Social Impact report is just a start; it is representative only of the work we were able to do in the 2020 calendar year. Since then, our small but mighty team of 6 has grown to nearly 22 full-time employees. As we grow, we have a unique opportunity to scale thoughtfully and responsibly, with social impact at the core of all of our development.
Our Impact work in 2021/22 will be spearheaded by an internal Impact Taskforce. This Taskforce is using the UN Sustainable Development Goals framework as a guideline for our work. We have a particular focus on goals 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), Goal 9 (Innovation and Infrastructure), and Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). We look forward to sharing our more recent work in the impact space in our next Impact Report, scheduled for Q4 2022. For more information, head to our About Us page.
We hope to continue to foster an open dialogue, and we invite you to share your thoughts and suggestions with us. We encourage our community to hold us accountable to action in the coming months and years, and we welcome any feedback. The best way to contact us is via email; simply write to customercare@hillhousehome.com.