A co-operative is a business model that places staff and community benefits at the core of it’s purpose, values and practices.

Our business model is guided by community care, horizontal governance, collective decision making and shared ownership. Each staff member is a worker and an owner. In the piercing industry, this means that we can challenge injustice and inequality by:

• Having an equitable distribution of profits
  Since everyone at Ceremony Piercing is worker- owner, we own the means of our production. This means that only those who contribute to the business will directly benefit from it’s success. We do not have managers or owners who can exploit our labor for their profit.
  

• Focusing on client and community relations
  When profits are equitably shared across the staff, we can afford to be more invested in supporting our clients, our community and each other. Without competition, decisions are made democratically to benefit the majority, rather than the few who hold power.
  

• Practicing flexibility and innovation
  We can easily adapt structures, policies and implement new ideas in response to staff and client needs. We don’t make decisions out of tradition. Instead we’re constantly evolving to show up as our best selves for clients & for each other.
  

• Enjoying workplace harmony
  Since everyone has an equal stake, co-ops foster collaborative, equitable and supportive work environments. High levels of communication and team cohesion benefits our health, safety and service quality. We can also pay ourselves fair wages and maintain positive working conditions.
  

• Honoring our identities
  We live in a class based society, which means that we work in a class based industry. Historically, society subscribes to dominant socioeconomic classes such as being wealthy, being male, being white, being cisgendered, being able bodied, etc.
  
  Being a staff of Queer, Black, Trans, Neurodivergent and Disabled people means that we embody, understand and center our studio around marginalized experience. Although there is nuance, as we all share some dominant identities, we choose to cater to our most marginalized identities here at Ceremony Piercing.