This article by Emily Martin, originally appeared on Zenoti.com.

The team at Zenoti is united under one mission—they exist to make people feel good so they can find their own greatness.

For this reason, the Zenoti Foundation was established as a charitable non-profit organization that supports businesses and individuals in the beauty and wellness industry. The technology company’s key areas of support for 2021 are scholarships and community engagement.

Here, Zenoti CEO Sudheer Koneru talks us through the foundation’s plans for 2021:

What prompted the formation of the Zenoti Foundation?

Koneru: The Zenoti Foundation was created because a key measure of success for us is the difference we make to the industry and communities we operate in. We don’t want our brand belief to just be something that we put on the website, we want to truly live and breathe it. The Zenoti Foundation reaffirms our commitment to helping people find their greatness alongside our admiration for the beauty and wellness industry.  

What are the goals of the Zenoti Foundation?

Koneru: When establishing the Zenoti Foundation, we outlined the following four goals:

• Give help when needed

• Provide support when required  

• Advocate for the cause of beauty and wellness

• Always think about how we can make people feel good

It’s also really important to me to drive a pay it forward mentality. The aim is that through our scholarships we support the next generation of practitioners and encourage them to continue this with their employees. This creates an ongoing ripple effect throughout the industry of combined learning and education.  

What have been the key achievements of the Zenoti Foundation to date?

Koneru: I am very proud of all that we have achieved with our COVID-19 Relief Fund. Through it, we distributed aid to over 500 beauty & wellness professionals in the United States, Australia, India, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Zenoti employees donated a portion of their salaries which was augmented with a grant from Zenoti Inc. I thought this was particularly telling of the culture that we have here at Zenoti that employees were so willing and open to donating some of their salary to help others in the industry.  

Since 2020, we have also been a key sponsor of the UK-based charity, Haircuts4Homeless. This is a community of skilled hairdresser volunteers, established by veteran hairdresser Stewart Roberts, who give their time free of charge to provide haircuts for people experiencing homelessness. Through our work with them, we have learned that the simple things we often take for granted, such as a haircut or shave, can have a profound impact. Feeling good about yourself and receiving that crucial boost to persevere in challenging circumstances, can really help you find your greatness.

How is the Zenoti Foundation expanding its efforts in 2021?

Koneru: This year we are really expanding in two main areas: scholarships with leading customer academies and community support for homeless shelters in the communities surrounding our customers.  

With our scholarships we are making real on our commitment to support the next generation of salon, spa, and fitness practitioners. We feel there is greatness in everyone, and encouragement channels and fuels this greatness. Our initial scholarship program is in support of Gene Juarez Academy but we will be rolling out several academies over the course of the year so stay tuned!

We are also working with our salon and barbershop partners across the United States, with additional countries to come, to deliver ongoing shelter days that provide free haircuts for those experiencing homelessness in their communities. Additional support will also be in the form of salon product donations to shelter residents to ensure they have access to the resources that can help them to feel good.  

As an expansion of our community support initiative, we’re excited to partner with California-based Beauty Bus Foundation to support them with initiatives that deliver dignity, hope, and respite to the homeless and chronically or terminally ill individuals through beauty and grooming services and pampering products. The first of which is a pop-up salon in support of Aviva house shelter. Located in Los Angeles, Aviva’s Wallis House is a residence for young women and their children experiencing homelessness. The shelter lifts up young women and their families and gives them skills and support to live an independent future.

About Zenoti:Zenoti provides an all-in-one, cloud-based software solution for the beauty, wellness, and fitness industries. The Zenoti platform is engineered for reliability and scale, harnessing the power of enterprise-level technology for businesses of all sizes.Zenoti powers thousands of spas and salons in more than 50 countries. Zenoti allows users to seamlessly manage every aspect of the business in a comprehensive mobile solution: online appointment bookings, POS, CRM, employee management, inventory management, built-in marketing programs and more. Zenoti helps clients streamline their systems and reduce costs, while simultaneously improving customer retention and spending. To learn more about Zenoti visit us online and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for the latest news and updates.