Women have always been at the center of the Guerlain world and initiatives. A commitment materialized in 2020, with the birth of Guerlain Women for Bees Programan avant-garde project for female beekeeping entrepreneurship, aimed at promoting its own the training of women beekeepers around the world, from France to Cambodia, from Mexico to Japan and Italy, in close collaboration with UNESCO and, starting this year, with local NGOs.
A precious initiative, which this year has found its natural evolution with Angelina JolieMuse of Guerlain since 2017 and Bee Ambassador of the UNESCO / Guerlain Women for Bees Program, who traveled to the Yucatan Peninsula to launch a multi-year conservation and education project in collaboration with the Fundación Selva Maya (FSM), a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Melipona beecheii, the sacred bees of the ancient Mayan civilization.
These stingless bees are typical of Central America and are among the most endangered bees. Being one of the main pollinators of the Maya forest ecosystem, the native Melipona beecheii it is essential to maintain the balance of biodiversity in the region.
It is for this reason that Guerlain has decided to support the WSF’s Melipona Project and to allow Mayan women to be agents of change for the conservation of the Melipona bees and the traditions they have fostered. Specifically, Guerlain, in partnership with Fundación Selva Maya and Belmond Maroma, has established a pilot group of local women beekeeping instructors in the Santa Clara community to strengthen historical tradition and conservation knowledge, which can be passed on to future generations. Angelina Jolie participated in a two-day field visit, a Bee School beekeeping session, and an excursion to the FSM Reserve in the Akumal Jungle.
This commitment to empowering women through the Women for Bees program will continue in 2023 and for years to come with more beekeeper training courses in Rwanda, China and beyond.
A look, that of the maison, always aimed at the future and change, but also at the past, thanks to three years of commitment and concrete actions. Undoubtedly a nice way to celebrate International Women’s Rights Day.
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Angelina Jolie beekeeping teacher for a day