IPSY BLACK VOICES IN BEAUTY: 5 INDUSTRY LEADERS SHARE THEIR TRUTHS
Like many industries grappling with the lack of representation when it comes to people of color, the beauty industry is not exempt. I joined a “Black Voices in Beauty” webinar this week, sponsored by IPSY and moderated by Sharon Chuter who is the Founder, CEO and Creative Director of UOMA Beauty, a black-owned beauty brand. Sharon is also the mastermind behind the grassroots “Pull Up or Shut Up” for change campaign, which boldly challenges major brands that we know and love to walk the talk and share just how diverse their corporate leadership teams are. According to Sharon, this is a topic that would’ve been controversial just five years ago.
While this conversation centered on the quest for Black-owned brands, stylists, makeup artists, creatives and influencers in the beauty and fashion industry to be seen, heard and afforded elevated professional opportunities, I found the similarities to professional experiences outside of this industry quite telling.
L-to-R Yolanda Frederick-Thompson, Elizabeth Marvin (IPSY), Gabi Gregg, Amanda Johnson, Jasmine Sanders and Sharon Chuter
IPSY Discussion Highlights
SHARON CHUTER, Moderator
Sharon Chuter during a TEEN Vogue Summit in Los Angeles, California. Image: Sharon Chuter’s Instagram.
“If your company is refusing to pull up for change, don’t try to be a martyr…leave. I stayed [in corporate America] and tried to save the world. I ended up being broken and damaged beyond corporate life and it has taken me years to regain myself…and nothing is worth it.”
Interpretations of “Black” in Beauty
When people say Black, they don’t understand the different hues that Black comes in.
A lot of people have their monolithic idea on what Black is.On entrepreneurship
The life of an entrepreneur is dropping off a cliff—you have to have something either really chasing you or something that you’re really chasing passionately to jump off that cliff.Here’s a quote I found similar to Sharon’s analogy above:
"An entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down.”
—Reid Hoffman, Co-founder, LinkedInTurning diversity into opportunity
A lot of Black businesses are not well funded, so think about ways that you can add value. Reach out and think about equity dynamics and how you can really transform that business. Be clever on how you can use this as an opportunity to transition from being an employee to becoming a boss, a co-partner or working for someone who’s starting out. Think creatively on how you can use your experience to help grow the organization and take a piece for yourself as well.Roadblocks as a brand founder
Raising capital for your brand is challenging when there’s only 0.0006% funding available for Black businesses—in spite of Black women being the fastest-growing entrepreneurs in the US…Then, if you get the funding, you’re pigeon-holed as an ethnic brand, which means if you’re Black-owned you never get the mainstream appeal.Get comfortable calling brands out
Have the courage to say enough is enough. [She gave up on trying to make changes within organizations as a former beauty executive, where her experience spanned across brands such as LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.] There was no change because there was no diversity. From Sharon’s perspective, the companies refusing to be progressive and change will become the new Kodak. It takes companies 5-7 years to catch up or they become obsolete when they don’t jump at change when there’s a huge change in the market.
AMANDA JOHNSON, Co-Founder + COO Mented Cosmetics
Amanda Johnson (left) with co-founder KJ Smith
“Being willing to walk into a room and tell someone you have an idea and that you want them to give you money for an idea…is quite remarkable...It gets more and more difficult as you are that much more different and removed from the people you are asking money from [white men who went to Ivy League schools and don’t understand Black women’s beauty problems]...You always need that person across the table to understand the idea.”
Mented (short for pigmented) was started “for us, by us” as a pigment-first beauty brand celebrating women of all hues focused on women of color. Amanda Johnson and her co-founder, KJ Miller, met while attending Harvard Business School and knew that they wanted to start a company. Although they didn’t have the idea conceptualized by the time they graduated in 2014, a year later they met periodically to brainstorm and eventually landed on the idea to start Mented Cosmetics. The light-bulb moment came after having a discussion about feeling left out of the beauty industry. Amanda mentioned not being able to find the perfect nude lipstick for three years, which KJ co-signed by sharing that she always wore chapstick for this reason. They agreed that there was a lack of awareness, inclusion and information in the beauty industry considering that we weren’t the faces on the wall in department stores, associates didn’t look like us and women had to go online to get information from influencers because stores nor brands were filling this gap.
Real empathy and sympathy led to them being able to raise money for their idea, which is why it’s important to get more diversity in the VC and start-up world
Halle Tecco, a Harvard alumnus and Health Tech investor, was Angel investing and took a chance on Amanda and KJ after meeting with them at a Starbucks in Brooklyn and being introduced to their handmade samples. She understood their vision because her own family was diverse. She was going to Black neighborhoods to find products that she needed as well.Rejection: interpreting and moving on from the “no’s”
Amanda and KJ continue to get no’s even with the success of Mented, but they’ve gotten better at learning how to interpret and move forward. According to Amanda, entrepreneurship is an emotional roller coaster…the most high highs of your life and the lowest lows of your life, so if you don’t learn to ride the wave and take a no in the context and move forward from there, you won’t survive. Continue to smile and believe that the yes is coming.More thoughts from Amanda on entrepreneurship
Win, lose or draw, it’s worth it—whether it fails or succeeds. You feel powerful, you have an impact on the world, you get to hire people, people are buying products, you get to change an industry and how people think about something. If entrepreneurship is not your thing, support by purchasing from startups and Black brands. We vote with our dollars. If you buy from a brand, you’re telling them you like them. If you do not like a brand, do not buy from them.Innovators…start where you are, pursue your ideas and do something different
Amanda started her career in corporate America—first in investment banking then in corporate marketing. She was trying to be taken seriously as an employee and corporate team player but ended up learning about entrepreneurship and coming back to that same industry as a BOSS…as someone corporate America could learn from.
Amanda’s guilty pleasure: Going to the movies…6 movies a month
Lipstick or Mascara: Lipstick…I never leave the house without it
I feel beautiful when: I feel confident
@prettypensive
JASMINE SANDERS, Model + Activist
Jasmine Sanders on the August 2020 cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. Image: Jasmine Sander’s Instagram.
“I’m able to have the uncomfortable conversations with people that they [industry leaders] may not feel that they can have with [other Black women]. Even though I’m Black, even though my father is Black, they see the outside image and to them I’m able to walk in a certain room that others may not be able to. I’m able to sit at certain tables and have certain conversations that others may not. ”
Also known as the “Golden Barbie,” Jasmine Sanders shared her perspective as a Black woman in the modeling and fashion industry who looks “different,” which has brought about a different kind of experience fraught with challenges over the course of her 16-year career. Among the long list, she called attention to having to show up to sets hours earlier than her white counterparts (sometimes with her hair already done) because clients and the hairstylists and makeup artists they hire don’t take the time to learn and embrace different hair textures and skin tones (they’d rather blow dry her hair because it’s easier or use makeup that’s not flattering). And, she never knows what she’ll actually look like once images have gone through the editing process due to lighting and flashes being used to whitewash photos. Because of these (and other) experiences, she’s intentional about using her voice to advocate for brands using more Black models, influencers and plus-sized, curvier women who show a different body type than hers.
Boxed in (recurring theme today)
Because she’s seen as different inside industry circles, Jasmine hears conversations around her where Black women are talked about. To that she says, “I’m listening. I hear you and I’m one of those people that you’re talking about. Those people to me are beautiful Black women and we’re constantly put into a box.”Hiring decisions on set
Since the right makeup artists aren’t always hired, she has to educate people when they work on her (exp. Here’s my shoulder…please match my face to the rest of my body.) She doesn’t feel that the onus should be on her to educate from the chair just because a particular makeup artist fails to educate themselves when they get the call sheet and see who they’re going to be working with.Beauty should feel good
Hairstylists and makeup artists can make you feel degraded and disrespected…I want to feel comfortable, beautiful and powerful, she says. Some stylists act like they can do [a particular style] and touch your hair in a degrading and disrespectful way. They take [feeling beautiful] away when they say, ‘How much longer on Jasmine?’ Everything is rushed and it makes you feel unappreciated and not beautiful and those are two things you don’t want to feel when you’re going on set to make someone else’s product or brand beautiful and powerful. It’s really hard to ooze out all of that when you’re in the middle of a space where it’s pulling energy from you.Changes she’d like to see
Certain companies, magazines and brands pick what they see as popular instead of picking someone who is educated on the hair and skin tone and can do the job quick and under the time that they want. If I have to come to a set with my hair braided the way the client liked seeing it on my Instagram a week before, then they need to pay my hairstylist the rate that they would’ve paid the hair stylist on set, or reimburse me for getting the hair done ahead of time. It takes time and money. She’d also like the opportunity to invite other friends into these conversations with clients/brands so that she’s not the token Black person sitting at the table while pushing to be heard.
Jasmine’s Guilty Pleasure: Soul food and jerk chicken pasta
Lipstick or Mascara: Clear mascara…to brush up brows and lashes at the same time
I Feel Beautiful When: I have fresh braids, baby hair perfectly laid or I’m in pajamas all day
@goldenbarbie
YOLANDA FREDRICK-THOMPSON, Celebrity Makeup Artist
Yolanda Frederick-Thompson’s long list of celebrity clients includes Ciara and Russell Wilson, Jennifer Hudson, Creed, TLC, Solange and La La Vasquez. Image: Yolanda Frederick-Thompson’s Instagram.
“Black women spend nine times more money than anyone else on beauty…yet we are marginalized in terms of what our options are...The big box brands need to take note...There’s a place for everyone in the spectrum...we will no longer be left out.”
A nearly 30-year beauty industry veteran and inventor of an iPhone makeup palette clutch case called the Glam.Or.Ring™, Yolanda Fredrick-Thompson started out at one of the biggest Aveda Concepts salons in Atlanta’s prestigious Buckhead neighborhood. Although she honed her craft doing makeup, brow waxing and skincare consulting for white women, she recounted a recent experience where she flew out of the country for a Vogue magazine shoot and the photographer threatened to leave if she wasn’t replaced as the makeup artist because he didn’t think she was capable. Other frustrations in her career included being consistently challenged by the limitations of having to figure out how to make things work for women of color when she only had four go-to makeup colors to choose from. Yolanda eventually hit a glass ceiling in a business where people come and go and you’re made to feel that you’re not capable of doing mainstream work. As a result, she’s had to look outward for both inspiration and opportunities to pursue new heights while amplifying the needs of her clients.
Boxed in…
In every step of my career, I’ve been redlined. They look at your skin complexion and identify you as a certain type of makeup artist who does a certain type of thing [you’re considered mainstream if you don’t do Black skin…you’re a Black makeup artist if you do Black skin.] You live in that world because you have to keep working. People don’t really get to know the scope of your capability and talent because you’re kind of stuck in a box. If we are allowed a seat at the table...we’re educating and teaching editors and people in corporate America what beautiful Black women should look like. It’s not just about what beauty schools and salons are doing in terms of educating and training their people. It’s about us being able to have opportunity.Dispelling the current narrative of beauty
I’ve always been told that you don’t have enough white girls in your book, you don’t have enough variety on your page. It doesn’t validate and make me feel valued as a Black woman and it doesn’t speak to the narrative that Black women are beautiful. That whole narrative makes me feel like you can do this, but you can’t do that. This monolithic institution needs to reconfigure what they think about beauty, who they think are beautiful and what it means to be a curator of beauty.Curators of beauty
Mainstream definitely looks to what Black people are doing in beauty and it creates sort of a halo effect. Through that, we’re reaching far into other cultures and other dimensions. I’ve met some incredible white makeup artists who really understand how to do makeup on Black skin...because they were exposed to Black clients and other Black makeup artists. We can spread our knowledge and affect this culture in a positive way through creativity. A lot of brands are failing right now because new Black brands are killing it through social media.Brand authenticity…and how people currently working at large beauty companies can gauge whether their brands are being authentic
Some time has to pass before we’ll really know if brands are being true to the cause [referring to the recent surge in posting ethnic faces, hair and images]. Diversity doesn’t read well if it’s not authentic. Three to five months is too soon to know. Authenticity is truth and only time will tell the truth. We’ll sit back, watch the show and see what happens, she says.
Yolanda’s Guilty Pleasure: Twizzlers…I can eat a whole bag
Lipstick or Mascara: Lipstick…when people talk to you, they’re looking at your mouth
I Feel Beautiful When: I’m well rested
@yolandafrederick
GABI GREGG, Model + Influencer
Gabi Gregg champions body positivity for plus-sized women and is currently collaborating on one of the longest-running influencer partnerships. Image: Gabi Gregg’s Instagram.
“There are all these intersections of marginalized identities that brands really need to do the work to understand.”
Gabi Gregg (a.k.a. Gabi Fresh) started blogging almost 12 years ago and shared that she was the first person in the US to champion body positivity in fashion. Like Jasmine, she’s had her fair share of mishaps in the hair and makeup chair and has also had to get up early to apply her own foundation before a shoot because makeup artists aren't able to match her skin tone, do her own hair because inexperienced stylists have been hired and don’t know how to manage and style diverse textures (even with reference pictures of natural hair), and she’s had to bring her own clothes for a campaign (supposedly because ‘We love your style’) in spite of racks of clothing being available for everyone else. And, like Jasmine, she acknowledges that “light-skin privilege” does, indeed, exist on set—even when a shoot is meant to be diverse.
Tokenism and issues of colorism
Darker-skinned women, unfortunately, don’t have the same privileges. It’s really problematic when there’s a so-called diverse cast or shoot but only women like [she and Jasmine] are hired and there are no dark-skinned models or talent. There are all these intersections of marginalized identities that brands really need to do the work to understand.Beauty comes in different sizes
Gabi is collaborating on a swimsuit line with the ecommerce brand Swimsuits for All, which she says has been one of the most successful and longest-running influencer collabs ever. When she started, there were no bikinis and sexy swimwear for plus-sized women. They changed the industry by proving there was a demand. She has received so many DM’s from women who say they’ve never seen someone her size (and their size) wear a bikini. So many women need to see themselves reflected before they can start to feel beautiful themselves.On vetting stylists and makeup artists
When working on a campaign, she feels most beautiful and comfortable when she sees Black people on the glam team because she knows they’ll know what to do with her hair and makeup. From Gabi’s perspective, it shouldn’t be the talent’s responsibility to educate the professionals on set on how to apply and set a wig when there are so many Black hair and makeup artists who have been doing this for years. Like Jasmine, she reinforces that Black stylists should be hired and paid for their skillset. It’s up to the brand and the producer to take responsibility and vet those people ahead of time. Before you hire, ask if they’re able to do braids, wigs, etc.Work to be done around inclusivity in fashion and beauty
Studies have shown that when [a brand] finally serves [underserved marginalized groups] and finally gives the product you’ve been wanting, you’re going to stay loyal and buy more often because there are fewer places to shop and fewer brands that are catering to you. Although she feels comfortable openly calling brands out on her Instagram platform, she tries to have internal conversations first with those that she’s forged a close relationship with. However, she reconciles that burning bridges along the way may be necessary for the greater good.
Gabi’s Guilty Pleasure: The Bachelor…I watch it every week
Lipstick or Mascara: Mascara girl
I Feel Beautiful When: I am in nature or at the beach
@gabifresh
*This recap has been edited for context, space and clarity.
According to their website, IPSY was founded on a mission to inspire individuals around the world to express their unique beauty.
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Does any of this surprise you? Are there any lessons that you can take away as a consumer or someone interested in entrepreneurship and developing your own brand to fill a gap in ANY market?