They were standing in a small green room – their very own warehouse. On a late afternoon in March, I spoke with a group of Somali women wearing colorful headscarves and waving enthusiastically over a WhatsApp video call. The Fuller Project article led doTERRA to suspend operations with Asli Maydi several weeks later the women registered their collective. Multiple women accused Asli Maydi’s politically powerful owner Hassan of sexual harassment and assault. But a two-year investigation by the Fuller Project found women working for the company’s frankincense supplier Asli Maydi were underpaid and required to work in harsh conditions. Since its founding in 2008, doTERRA has built its brand on a promise of ethical sourcing. “Now, we are in charge and we have got the freedom to run our business,” said Jaamac, who is also one of the founding members.īefore, Jaamac and several other female sorters – workers who divide frankincense resin by color, grade and quality – were subject to the whims of leaders like the owner of Asli Maydi, Barkhad Hassan and they were excluded from decision-making, many of the women say.

Today, Jaamac is the chairperson of a new frankincense sorting collective called Beeyo Maal, which empowers about 280 women to run their own business in the male-dominated frankincense industry. Jaamac used to sort frankincense resin for an allegedly exploitative company named Asli Maydi, which supplied frankincense to doTERRA, a major US essential oils company that generates more than $2bn in annual sales.

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian