What does it mean to honour your identity? And would you know what to say if someone asked you? This year, the Ethical Brand Co team take a look inwards and reflect on who we are, where we’ve come from, and what really matters to us.
To break it down a little..
To honour means to regard with great respect. The quality of knowing and doing what is morally right. And identity is the set of characteristics determining who a person is.
So, to honour your identity would mean to give yourself great respect, for all that you are.
We can think of honouring ourselves in many different ways. Accepting the perfect and imperfect, the good and the bad. For many, this can look like self-love and self-care leading to self-acceptance. For others, this may align more with cultural identity, staying true to our heritage and honouring this part of who we are. Honouring your identity can mean acknowledging what is true and treating yourself with compassion and understanding, acceptance and love.
“For us as a business, honouring our identity means giving time and respect to the foundations we built from. Our land and environment, our ethos and mission, our incredible customers, and our people.”
Alexis – EBC Marketing Manager
Ethical Brand Co’s 2023 campaign aims to encourage you to be genuinely who you are. Whether you are loud and proud, or quiet but hold your power, we offer a space to be courageous. Honouring who you have been, where you come from, who you are now, and all the wonderful possibilities of your identity in the future.
We asked some of our wonderful customers, models and ambassadors.
“What is one thing you do to honour your identity?”.
Here’s what they had to say:
“To honour my identity, I like to be present. I like to give myself space to respond and feel into the things that I eat, feel, and put on my skin, the people around me, and my community. That helps me stay in alignment with my identity”. – Levi
“I do lots of things. I like to be still and be able to be calm and centre myself. And I like to sing, I sing all day. I think that just expresses joy and it makes me happy”. – Emelia
“Something I do to honour my identity is to be real with every single person that I encounter on my walk of life. I always wear my heart on my sleeve, and I have everybody’s best interest at heart always”. – Portia
“One thing I do to honour my identity is probably just being unapologetically myself. Everything that I do in my personality is like, this is the way I am, this is what I do, that’s me”. – Bonnie
“One thing that I like to do to honour my identity is really just, make sure that I have a fun and positive attitude. I love meeting new people and talking to new people. Always just putting myself out there even if I feel a bit uncomfortable is something I always try and do”. – Emma
“One thing that I do to honour my identity is to be confident, be myself, and always take every opportunity that arises”. – Millie
“I honour my identity by serving people. I like to deal with people and get to know a lot of different identities and stories”. – Cassie
“One thing I do to honour my identity is dance. I love to dance and it’s something that makes me feel super free and super creative. That’s something that I’ve done since I was young, so I love that”. – Isaiah
Honouring identity can look different for everyone. We are all unique after all, no two people are the same. So, take time to reflect, accept and honour who you truly are.
“There is one of you for all of time, fearlessly be yourself.”
– Anthony Rapp, Performer
Simple ways to honour your identity:
– Take a time to pause and reflect
– Be honest (but kind) with yourself
– Do what makes you happiest and stay true to things that make you feel whole
– Be courageous, even when it frightens you
– Speak up for what you believe in
– Remember and reflect on what it means to be part of a community. Unity is one of the most
grounding states – being joined as a whole.
