Checking in after the “Black Square Summer.”

In June 2020, the outrage sparked by the murder of George Floyd led many of us to examine what we could do to drive racial equality in all aspects of our lives. We had tough conversations with friends, family and colleagues; we educated ourselves on white supremacy and racial justice; we sought to “diversify our feeds” and expand the influencers we followed. We also took a closer look at our favorite brands.

Ultimately, we wanted to know if our hard-earned dollars were supporting brands that valued inclusion and diversity.

Conversations about inclusivity in the beauty industry aren’t new. However, last summer, these conversations shifted from superficial questions about shades to more complex questions about what was going on behind the scenes. The founder of Uoma Beauty, Sharon Cutter, founded Pull Up For Change to track the diversity in the beauty industry. She asked the tough question: what is the racial and gender diversity in your company, both companywide and at the leadership level?

Some brands avoided the question, but many reported their diversity numbers, which were pretty underwhelming. Brands promised to focus on increasing their diversity, but a few went beyond their own doors and started initiatives aimed at supporting Black-owned business and increasing diversity in the beauty industry as a whole.

Here’s a closer look at how beauty brands sought to increase diversity in the beauty industry:

1. Glossier

   In June 2020, Glossier launched the Grant Initiative for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses that offered grants to business in varying stages of their growth. In September 2020, they announced the grant recipients. Five businesses that had been in operation for over 12 months received $50,000 each. Seven early-stage businesses (in operation under 12 months) received $30,000 each. Four pre-launch businesses received $10,000 each. In addition, all applicants received invites to participate in virtual seminars on building and growing a business, like developing a strong brand identity. Through its grant initiative, Glossier contributed directly to sixteen Black-owned businesses and provided strategic guidance as well. I have no doubt that the capital will help to strengthen these businesses and that’s certainly a step towards increasing the presence of Black-owned beauty businesses. I’m curious to see whether Glossier continues this initiative this year, or if it decides on any additional steps towards increasing diversity in the beauty industry.

   Disclosure: I am a Glossier affiliate, and I applied for a grant for CVTD Beauty but was not selected. However, I was able to participate in a couple of seminars, which were pretty informative.

2. Tower 28 Beauty

   In July 2020, Tower 28 Beauty launched the Clean Beauty Summer School, which is described as “a collective effort by female founders and leaders in the beauty industry to support the growth of majority Black-owned small beauty businesses.” This initiative chose 10 finalists to participate in a month-long virtual summer school with classes on visual storytelling, digital marketing, building a brand identity and other topics around building a successful beauty business. At the end of the session, the finalists would participate in a pitch contest, with the winner receiving $10,000 from the New Voices Foundation as well as guaranteed meetings with buyers at Ulta and Sephora. This initiative touched on some of the key elements to building a successful business: capital, knowledge & connections. A CBD-based wellness brand, Frigg, won the pitch contest. Tower 28 is a relatively new beauty brand, so it’s commendable that it would launch such an initiative, but it remains to be seen whether Tower 28 continues with more summer school sessions.

3. KNC School of Beauty

   The founder of KNC Beauty, Kristen Noel Crawley, partnered with Revlon to create the KNC School of Beauty. It includes sessions on entrepreneurship, and attendees can enter to win a $10,000 grant from Revlon plus a 5-hour business coaching session from the New Voices Foundation. It’s unclear whether the contest is open after each session, or if all of the attendees for all of the sessions are competing for the prize. Other open questions include when winners will be chosen, and how many sessions will be in the School of Beauty. This model allows for a lot of budding entrepreneurs to gain knowledge from the sessions, and can seemingly continue for as long as Revlon, or any other company, is willing to fund the grants.

4. Make it BLACK Initiative

   One of the most exciting beauty industry initiatives aimed at increasing diversity is Make it BLACK, which was developed by Pull Up For Change. In February 2020, Make it BLACK debuted and it “partners with leading brands to showcase the beauty of Black and uses that as a vehicle to raise money to support the economic development of Black founders to foster more Black businesses and in turn Black employment.” Some of the most popular brands in beauty, like ColourPop, Briogeo and Maybelline have already launched Make it BLACK products. One hundred percent of net profits of the Make it BLACK products support Black beauty founders through Pull Up For Change’s Small Business Impact Fund.

   The Make it BLACK initiative is unique because it’s consumer-facing. The products featured in this collaboration have special packaging and they send the message to the consumer that both the brand and the retailer prioritize seeing more Black people in the beauty industry. This initiative undoubtedly centers Blackness and I respect such a bold move. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Small Business Impact Fund furthers diversity in the beauty industry.

5. Sephora

   The Sephora Accelerate program started five years ago, but the 2021 program is dedicated to brands founded by people of color. The Accelerate program provides advice to the founders and starting with this year, “the intention is to launch each brand that participates in the Accelerate program in its entirety.” A brand that participated in the program last year, Bread, is currently carried in Sephora, but I can’t attest to how many other past participants have been stocked.

   It’s also worth noting that Sephora was the first retailer to sign onto the 15 Percent Pledge, which challenged retailers to devote 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned business. It looks like the Sephora Accelerate program is an appropriate way to increase the diversity of brands in Sephora. However, Sephora will need more than the Accelerate program to reach 15 percent representation on the shelves. I anticipate Sephora will supplement the Accelerate program by stocking existing Black-owned brands rather than focusing on new entrants. For example, Danessa Myricks Beauty is now available online and will be in stores in April. I’m personally thrilled at this since Danessa Myricks is an inspiring makeup artist and product developer who has crafted some of the most beautiful and multi-functional products in my collection.

6. Ulta

   In addition to carrying products from the Make it BLACK initiative, Ulta has committed to doubling the number of Black-owned brands it carries in 2021. The brand has also pledged $4,000,000 in marketing to increase awareness. Mented Cosmetics, Keys Soulcare, Melanin Hair Care, Briogeo and Black Girl Sunscreen launched in Ulta in February. Briogeo is already available in Sephora, but the remaining brands hadn’t been available in other large national retailers, so distribution at Ulta will likely provide significant sales gains. I’d love to see Ulta carry even more new (non-celebrity) brands in the future.

These are some promising beauty industry initiatives that I’ll definitely be following. Industry-wide change won’t happen overnight, but it’s encouraging to see such influential brands addressing inequality and lack of diversity in beauty.