“A catalyst is somebody who enhances change,” said Nimrod Basri. “Recidivism is the tendency of convicted criminals to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

At WWD Beauty Inc’s inaugural The Catalysts conference in New York City last month, Basri married the two mutually exclusive concepts through a discussion about his New Jersey-based manufacturing company, Make USA, in which he’s employed more than 750 formerly incarcerated individuals over the last eight years.

“The story I’m about to say is not only about how we’re changing the lives of our employees, but also how they’re becoming catalysts for their own communities,” he explained.

Basri started by detailing his background in beauty, having worked for Procter & Gamble as well as several emerging brands such as Yes To. In 2017, he

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