Although the news and media outlets have stopped covering the Black Lives Matter movement as much, social media platforms have shown that protests are still going strong. Ever since the movement gained momentum last month, there have been more and more people calling for change across many industries, and the beauty industry is no exception. Find out how the Black Lives Matter movement has changed the beauty industry in Volume 2 of my Between the Headlines series!

If you haven’t seen Volume 1 of my Between the Headlines series, check it out here! Between the Headlines is a series I created to research and compile beauty and fashion headlines so that we as consumers can be more aware of what’s going on and be smarter shoppers. Here are the recent headlines about companies revealing the number of Black employees in the workplace and promises they’ve made to make room for Black lives in the beauty industry.

THE PULL UP FOR CHANGE INITIATIVE & COMPANIES COMING FORWARD

Last month, Sharon Chuter, the CEO of Uoma Beauty, created the Pull Up For Change initiative using the hashtag #pulluporshutup in order to ask brands to share the number of Black employees that hold executive and corporate positions at their companies. This resulted in many brands coming forward with their numbers:

• Uoma Beauty currently has 58% Black employees.
• Mented Cosmetics is Black-owned with 100% Black employees and 75% Black board members.
• Revlon revealed that 27% of their employees and 5% of director positions and above are Black.
• Nordstrom showed that 19% of retail and warehouse employees and 5% of executive positions are Black.
• Sephora shared that 14% of their employees and 6% of leadership roles are held by Black individuals.
• Ulta has 18% Black board members, 13% executive team leaders, and 6% corporate associates that are Black.
• Colourpop is made up of 3% Black employees.
• Adidas has no Black representation on their executive team or supervisory board.
• Nike has no Black representation on the executive leadership team and the majority of positions starting from the director level and upwards (over 70%) is represented by white individuals.
• Glossier currently has no Black employees in leadership positions.

A full list of all the companies that have been transparent with their numbers is available at the Pull Up For Change Instagram page.

BRANDS PLEDGING TO MAKE INTERNAL CHANGES & DONATIONS

After sharing these statistics, many companies promised to hire more Black employees along with making donations to the cause. For instance, Estée Lauder plans on hiring more Black employees and will donate $10 million over three years to the NAACP. Other brands have followed suit with changes and donations.

• Sephora signed the 15 Percent Pledge which will allow retailers to dedicate more shelf space to Black-owned brands. The pledge was started by Aurora James, the founder and creative director of Brother Vellies.
  
• Peach and Lily launched a year-long mentorship program for Black estheticians (applications closed on June 30).

• Paula’s Choice launched an influencer program called On the Rise for Black content creators with under 20k followers and an interest in skincare. These creators will have access to Paula’s Choice University, monthly support calls from the company, paid content partnerships, giveaways, and more (application deadline is July 22 and winners will be notified by August 3).
  
• Proctor & Gamble will be giving $200,000 to Black-owned salons that need assistance.
  
• Beyonce is partnering with the NAACP to provide $10,000 grants to small Black-owned businesses that are struggling during the pandemic.

It’s refreshing to see companies being transparent and open with their numbers and promises for change, but only time will tell if these brands will follow through on their words and make permanent changes.

IN OTHER NEWS 

• L’Oreal announces that they plan to cut plastic packaging by 2030 and will introduce waste-conscious products such as shampoo bars.
  
• Sephora announces they won’t be selling mink lashes anymore and will only have faux mink lashes in their stores.
  
• American Eagle has created a concept store called Unsubscribed which will revolve around a slow fashion concept and will consist of organic and sustainable brands with a price range of $5-$500 dollars. This is part of their promise to be carbon neutral by 2030.
  
• Valentina Sampaio is the first openly trans woman to be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
• The US branch of Muji has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (to find out more about what Chapter 11 bankruptcy is, check out my first Between the Headlines post here).

And that’s all the news I have this time! I hope this post was informative and let me know in the comments how you’ve been liking this series! Thanks so much for reading and I’ll see you lovelies soon ?