David Bronner (born 1973) is an American corporate executive and activist. As the top executive at Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, he has become known for his activism around a range of issues, especially fair trade,

sustainable agriculture Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem ser ...

, animal rights, and drug policy reform.

Family and education

David Bronner was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Jim Bronner and Trudy Bronner. He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1995 with a degree in biology."Executive Team"
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps website. Retrieved June 5, 2019.Burge, Brad
"Putting "All-One" Into Practice: An Interview with David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps with Brad Burge"
''MAPS Bulletin'' vol. 25, no. 1: Psychedelics and Policy (Spring 2015). He is the grandson of

Emanuel Bronner Emanuel Theodore Bronner (born Emanuel Heilbronner, February 1, 1908 – March 7, 1997) was the maker of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. He used product labels to promote his moral and religious ideas, including a belief in the goodness and unity of ...

, founder of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, an American producer of organic soap and personal care products. His father worked for the company in the 1980s and 1990s,Bronner, David. "How This Whole Crazy Trip Started." I
''Dr. Bronner's All-One! Report''
2015, p. 5. and his mother is the company's chief financial officer.Harkinson, Josh
"How Dr. Bronner’s Soap Turned Activism Into Good Clean Fun"
''Mother Jones'', May 24, 2014.

Business career

In 1997 David Bronner began working for the family business, which was then under the leadership of his father. Following his father's death in 1998, David became the company's president and, working with his brother Michael, grew the company from $4 million in annual revenue in 1998 to $120 million in 2017.Dahl, Kieran
"How a decades-old hippie soap brand became a touchstone of wellness culture"
''Vox'', May 8, 2019.Stolzoff, Simone
"Lather Rinse Repeat"
''Quartzy'', September 4, 2018. In 1999, he joined the small handful of top U.S. executives who voluntarily capped their salaries out of commitment to fair labor principles; Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps still has its top salary capped at five times that of the company's lowest-paid workers. In 2015, David moved into the newly created position of Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO), while Michael took over as president."Mike Bronner Media Profile"
. N.D."Dr. Bronner’s Announces Change in Titles of Leadership"
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps press release, August 4, 2015. In 2019 Bronner founded the company Brother David's to produce organic sun-grown

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

in partnership with the supply chain company Flow Kana and independent small farmers.Smith, Phillip
"Brother David’s quest to turn the cannabis industry truly green—and support activism"
''Salon'', May 5, 2019. The company states that all profits will go to support

regenerative agriculture Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, ...

and reform of drug-prohibition laws.

Activism and philanthropy

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps has supported causes related to

drug policy reform Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the use or sale of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization and drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug ...

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...

, organic labeling,

, and fair trade practices. Roughly 10 percent of the company's revenue goes to charitable giving and activist causes annually. Organizations that have been supported under Bronner's leadership include the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (for which Bronner serves on the board of directors), and

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its g ...

. A particular target of Bronner's activism has been efforts to protect the hemp industry in the United States.Sheffi, Yossi. ''Balancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (and When Not To)''. MIT Press, 2018, pp. 322-324. Under his leadership in 2001, the company funded and coordinated with the Hemp Industry Association on its lawsuit against the U.S.

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...

(DEA), seeking to prevent a ban of hemp food sales in the United States.Lee, Martin A. ''Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana''. Scribner, 2012, p. 394. The

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

granted a stay in the case in 2002 and ruled in favor of the hemp industry in 2004. Bronner has been arrested twice for civil disobedience while protesting limitations on the domestic production of hemp. In 2009, he was arrested for planting hemp seeds on the lawn at DEA headquarters.Heyward, Anna
"Meet-Up"
''The New Yorker'', February 21, 2016. In 2012, he was arrested after harvesting hemp and milling hemp oil while locked in a metal cage in front of the White House. In 2015 he was named Cannabis Activist of the Year by the

Seattle Hempfest Seattle Hempfest is an annual event in the city of Seattle, Washington (and the world's largest annual gathering) advocating the legalization of cannabis. Vivian McPeak serves as the organization's executive director. Founded in 1991 as the W ...

. In 2014 Bronner wrote an

advertorial An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term "advertorial" is a blend (see portmanteau) of the words "advertisement" and "editorial." Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946. In printed publications, t ...

drawing attention to the ways that GMO crops have led to increased pesticide use in the United States.Bronner, David
"Herbicide and Insecticide Use on GMO Crops Skyrocketing While Pro-GMO Media Run Interference"
Advertorial. It was initially published as a short article in the '' Huffington Post'' and subsequently as an ad in various wide-circulation magazines, ranging from ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' to ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

''. Two leading journals, ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'' and ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', refused to carry the ad, in at least one case due to concern over backlash from the GMO industry.Philpott, Tom. "Why Did Top Scientific Journals Reject This Dr. Bronner’s Ad?". ''Mother Jones'', October 20, 2014. In 2019, David Bronner pledged his company’s matching contribution of $150,000 to Oregon’s statewide ballot initiative to legalize psilocybin assisted therapy.Somerset, Sara Brittany. "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap Company Supports The 2020 Legalize Psilocybin Initiative". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

Personal life

In honor of

National Coming Out Day National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11, to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people ( the LGBT community, sometimes also called the queer community) in " coming out of the closet". Fi ...

in 2022, Bronner announced in an essay on his website that he uses ''

he/him In Modern English, ''he'' is a singular, masculine, third-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''he'' has four shapes representing five distinct word forms: * ''he'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''him'': the accus ...

'' and ''

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentence ...

'' pronouns, describing himself as "about 25% girl" and not being "‘straight,’ ‘gay,’ or ‘man’ or ‘woman’". The essay also mentioned Bronner's wife Mia, who is bisexual and

genderfluid Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

, and their 25-year-old

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

child Maya as having inspired him in his gender exploration.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronner, David American chief executives of manufacturing companies Harvard College alumni People from Los Angeles 1973 births Living people Businesspeople from Los Angeles Non-binary activists American LGBT businesspeople