... [+]Courtesy of Create & Cultivate
It’s a seemingly perfect Saturday morning in Los Angeles: the sun is shining bright, there’s not a cloud in the sky, and Bella Hadid is preparing to take the stage at Create & Cultivate’s 2022 Conference.
“I woke up this morning and realized I’m so lucky because I just have the most badass partner ever, and this is why I’m proud to be with Kin,” says Hadid, who was named cofounder of the functional beverage brand last September. “We understand what it takes to be able to run a business but also the way that you have to use your voice for the right reasons.”
Advocacy has been an important part of Kin and its identity from the beginning, so its founder and CEO, Jen Batchelor, didn’t hesitate to take a stand on abortion rights. “We cannot stand when people are robbed of opportunities to make choices for themselves, so it’s natural for us,” she explains. “At the end of the day, we can’t hide behind the shield of a pretty brand; we have to also be the humans behind it.
In fact, it’s this kind of passion and empathy that initially attracted Hadid to the brand—first as a customer, then as a cofounder. “I’ve had Lyme Disease my whole life, and I’ve always had ADHD and all kinds of immune problems, and I just wanted to find something that would allow me work the way that I do and still be able to enjoy myself at the same time,” the model recalls. Along the way, she tried Kin and immediately knew she’d found something special.