Message from Our Founder, Emily: COVID19 Update

If you'd prefer to listen to this message instead of reading it, head to our Instagram page.

To Our Dear Em & El Community:

As the days grow longer in the march towards spring, so many of us here feel like the days are also growing darker. By now, I know your inboxes have begun to be inundated by updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. This is one of those emails, and while it is long, please know that it is written from my heart.

We at Em & El, like everyone else, are closely monitoring and following the guidelines set by both the CDC and WHO, as well as our local NYC government. The safety of our customers and everyone involved with Em & El is clearly at the forefront of our minds as we adapt to the daily changes.

For now, we are open for business online, though all in-person events and pop ups have been canceled for the foreseeable future. We will continue mailing out orders as long as the US Postal Service remains open. In order to limit our time outside and the risk of exposure, both to others and to ourselves, we are reducing the frequency of our trips to the post office. While we will work to get your packages out our doors as quickly as possible, I am asking for your patience if they take a few extra days in arriving to you.

As the makers of skin care products and soaps, cleanliness and safety has always been our priority in producing our products. We have implemented even more stringent protocols to our order fulfillment routines, including additional hand washing before and after boxing each order, wiping down products with alcohol swabs before they are boxed, and a dedicated shipping area that gets sanitized in between each order being boxed. We highly recommend that you wash your hands after handling packages coming into your house, and before using any of our products. Alternatively, you can use a clean q-tip to apply products to your skin.

Until the situation stabilizes, we are also temporarily suspending our production of any new products. We are well-stocked for now, especially with our kickass hand cream, and hope you will continue to support us.

Uncertainty abounds with everyone and we are all doing our best to adapt quickly. I am deeply grateful for our community--our amazing customers, our incredible suppliers, and our fellow small business owners, who are banding together to support each other through this difficult time and to find creative solutions to the challenges we face.

In truth, like many small businesses when faced with a crisis of this magnitude, Em & El might not survive it. That sentence might be the hardest I've had to write in my life. It brings me to tears as I sit in my home office, which also happens to be Em & El headquarters, surrounded by our inventory, planning calendars, marketing materials, scribbles of new ideas--everything that we've built over the years and think that this all could be gone. I promise you this: we are going to fight like hell to survive and come out stronger on the other side. We need you in this fight--our customers are our lifeline. We will all need each other, now more than ever before.

If you're looking for some hope, humor, extra love, a little distraction from it all, and tips to help manage through the transitions, I invite you to join us on Instagram if you haven't already. It's also the best place to stay updated on what's happening with Em & El. If there is something you'd like to see us talk about or suggestions you have, please let me know! I truly love hearing from you--it brings me great hope.

Please be kind to one another and to yourselves. Check in on your neighbors, especially those who may not be able to leave their homes, as well as those who may be silently struggling. Try to find some beauty in this brave new world. My greatest hope is that when we emerge on the other side of this pandemic, we choose to rebuild our world with humanity,
equity for all, and love.

As the Indigo Girls remind me,
"If we ever leave a legacy, it's that we love each other well."

Yours always,
Emily

Now go wash your hands! And stop touching your face! And stay home if you have the great fortune of being able to do so.
Let's band together to #flattenthecurve.