Is the beauty industry failing Black entrepreneurial women?
Happy Women's History Month to all, although in our eyes we should be celebrating women and all the ways we made 'his'tory every single day. Still, this month is a great opportunity to remind us all of the amazing things women bring to the table, and that’s if they’re not the ones bringing THE damn table itself.
We love what Women's History Month stands for, and the place it occupies in the intersectional feminist movement. Using the word intersectional was intentional. We are in a climate where we have to disassociate from the single term of ‘feminism’ with the aim to separate it from ‘white feminism’ by acknowledging women's different experiences and identities. Why? Because the movement is supposed to include all women, yet Black women find themselves often left out of the conversation and forgotten.
What is Intersectional Feminism and what role does it play in the beauty industry?
At core level, intersectional feminism seeks to achieve gender equity, not equality. According to Social Change UK, although both promote fairness, equality achieves this through treating everyone the same regardless of need, while equity means treating people differently dependent on need. Within the feminist community different demographics of women will have different needs and it’s important to acknowledge that.
The numbers look bleak. For example: Black women in the UK four times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth according to the 2019 MBRRACE-UK report. Black women are 4.3 times more likely to die from a COVID-19 related death than White ethnicity males and females. Black and Minority Ethnic women comprise 11.9% of the women’s general population in England and Wales, but 20% of the women’s prison population. You get the idea…
Now in the beauty world, a Nielsen study reported that Blacks spend nearly nine times more than their non-Black counterparts on ethnic hair and beauty products. Yet they are rarely given a space in ownership and leadership in those proportions.
At Revlon USA, only 5% of employees at the director level or above are black. L’Oréal USA, counts 8% who identify as black at the executive level in America. And at Lime Crime*, you will find a grand total of zero black employees at the brand’s corporate headquarters. Although disappointing these figures are, they have been released by the brands voluntarily which is a step towards better transparency.
In addition to their original statement in 2020, Revlon adds: "In 2021 and beyond, we continue to remain focused on diversity including working with our Inclusion & Diversity Council, as well as recruiting and human resources teams to improve representation at every level. We’re committed to our progress," says Diyanti Camilla, Global PR + Influencer Marketing Manager.
This is reflected across the board for many other major corporations. In fact, as of 2019, only four fortune 500 companies had a black CEO where only one is a woman: Mary Winston at Bed, Bath & Beyond, who left her post at the end of 2019.
Instagram content
Where are the Black female founders at?
The beauty industry has been tackling these racial disparities within its own ecosystem, and prejudice within this industry has been no secret. It's estimated that the Black British community has a spending power of £300bn, yet only 2% of this is spent within black businesses.
Some of today’s most-booked beauty treatments and biggest cult trends (insert dark fake tan, box braids, hair extensions, nail art and acrylic nails, to name only a few) are steeped in black culture and have been a staple of black beauty for decades. However as representation is sparse and far between, there seems to be a wide disparity on the value the black pound holds in beauty against the people it truly benefits.
The importance of investing in black owned beauty business is clear, even from a purely financial perspective, whether that is for the brand itself or for building leverage within the Black community - but more than that it is essential to have representation in leadership inspire future generations.
Visibility matters, it’s extremely hard to persuade a young person to do something they can’t envision. Many Black women like me didn’t have many role models in positions of power or leadership, so often we deemed those spaces as unachievable.
A study conducted by management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in December 2020 revealed that "Women view the workplace as fundamentally less fair and Black women face in greater challenges". For every 100 men promoted or hired into the manager level, 85 women are promoted or hired and 58 Black women are promoted or hired. Only 56% of Black women feel that they have equal opportunity for growth as their peers (white women and men of all demographics sit both at 69%). A mere 35% of Black Women believe that promotions are based on a fair and objective criteria and 28% believe that the best opportunities go to the most deserving employees (white women and men of all demographies sit at 42% and 48% respectively). The numbers speak for themselves.
Now, that doesn’t quite explain why Black Women are not able to create their own rooms and set up their own tables. So let me break it down: there is a system deterring Black entrepreneurship from thriving, rooted in systemic racism. The Financial Times has reported that in the UK alone, there are no comprehensive figures on lending to black-owned businesses in the UK because “banks do not ask for ethnic background on application forms — but bankers acknowledge there is a problem with funding.”
Warwick Business School released a report in 2013 which found that Black-owned businesses were more likely to be rejected for an overdraft and charged higher interest rates than their white-owned counterparts. Figures also show that Black people are less likely to have access to capital to fund their businesses. When we’re talking Black women, those numbers are even smaller.
Why should we be reppin' for more Black Female in leadership roles?
The importance of having Black women at the big tables would prevent so many PR nightmares like non inclusive foundation ranges, 50 shades of ashy undertones, and poor quality hair products for afro hair amongst many other common beauty woes. So today, while you celebrate all the women that you admire, and the Beauty founders that have kept us looking beautiful and fresh, please don’t forget to send flowers to the Black Women paving the way in Beauty. One thing that BLM and ‘Black Square Summer’ taught us is that allyship is important. Together we can create a much more inclusive space that is not just for one type of woman, but here for ALL women.
*Lime Crime and L'Oreal have been contacted for comment.
We have put together a list of 19 Black Beauty Brand founders that are pacing the way for women of colour that you need to know about.
Dr. Ewoma - Founder of SKN Doctor
Dr. Ewoma Ukeleghe is a medical and cosmetic doctor, and clinical expert in skincare & non-surgical enhancement. She is known for her personable and patient-focused vision - which is matched by her strong clinical expertise and holistic and pioneering approach to millennial beauty and the cosmetics market. Also her informative and thought provoking instagram handle is worth every follow.
Instagram: @drewomaukeleghe
Dija Ayodele - Founder of Black Skin Directory
Dija is a highly respected Aesthetician and founder of the two time Aesthetic Award winning Black Skin Directory; founded in 2018, to better connect people of colour to professional skincare in all of its facets. With over 10 years’ experience in understanding and treating skin health, she has become a pivotal champion and advocate for providing the tools for people of colour to be educated on their unique skincare needs.
Instagram: @dija_ayodele
Liha Okunniwa & Abi Oyepitan - Founders of LIHA Beauty
Founders Abi + Liha, inspired by the traditions of their West African roots, began making their own beauty products together as a hobby. Abi, a professional athlete, would often travel for her job and wherever Abi would go, Liha would ask her to bring back different ingredients, especially the good Shea from Abi’s Dad’s town in Nigeria! The pair transitioned mid-career to create LIHA, starting out from their kitchens and building the luxurious brand you see today.
Instagram: @lihabeauty
Dr. Ifeoma Ejikeme - Founder of Adonia Medical Clinic
Dr Ejikeme is the Founder and Medical Director of premium west London medical and aesthetics clinic, Adonia Medical Clinic - current holders of the highly-esteemed Celluma Award for Best Clinic London. In 2020 she co-founded the UK’s first ever Black Aesthetics Advisory board with the mission to improve the experiences of black minority ethnic (BME) professionals and consumers by improving the education on BME skin.
Instagram: @dr_ifeoma_ejikeme
Dame Patricia McGrath - Founder of Pat McGrath Labs
Dame Patricia Ann McGrath is a Northampton born world-renowned founder and CEO of the billion pound brand Pat McGrath Labs. She has worked with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Hailey Bieber and is heralded as the world’s most influential make-up artist. She is also the first make-up artist to be made a British dame
Instagram: @patmcgrathreal
Ibi Meier-Oruitemeka - Founder of The Afro Hair Skin & Co.
Artist and beauty entrepreneur, from London Ibi Meier-Oruitemeka created The Afro Hair & Skin Co. as a range of beauty and lifestyle products that provide tools for women to embrace the act of beauty ritualising as a form of self -preservation.
Instagram: @afrohairandskinco
Charlotte Mensah - Founder of Charlotte Mensah
Charlotte Mensah is an Award-winning hairstylist, author and the owner and artistic director of the Hair Lounge salon on Portobello Road in Notting Hill. Charlotte is also founder of the Charlotte Mensah Manketti Oil product range and is an inspiration to stylists, business owners and women worldwide. She is a Patron of the Prince’s Trust, member of the British Beauty Council and founder of the charity, L.O.V.E. (Ladies of Visionary Empowerment).
Instagram: @charlottemensah
Rachael Corson and Jocelyn Mate - Founders of Afrocenchix
Afrocenchix is an award winning natural hair care company founded by Joycelyn Mate and Rachael Corson. The company blends top quality ingredients to make high performing products for afro and curly hair. Afrocenchix formed when Joycelyn was on a seemingly endless quest for quality hair care products that actually worked and Rachael, who suffers from eczema, was eager to find a beauty product she wasn’t allergic to.
Instagram: @afrocenchix
Getty ImagesDanessa Myricks - Founder of Danessa Myricks Beauty
Danessa Myricks is a self-taught makeup artist that has continuously broken boundaries and built a world of beauty for people from all races, ages and genders. Danessa decided to launch her own brand, Danessa Myricks Beauty with multi-functional products created to work in multiple places and on all faces.
Instagram: @danessa_myricks
Gina Knight - Founder of Gina Knight Wig Design
Gina Knight is an award winning founder with over 10 years experience in the hair and beauty industry. She created the Gina Knight Wig Design range, specialising in textured wigs for hair replacement for black women for a natural look and technique that doesn’t compromise your hair or scalp. The range was created due to Gina herself battling hair loss since 2012.
Instagram: @ginaatinukeknight
Aasiyah Abdulsalam - Founder of The Wig Fix
Aasiyah Abdulsalam launched her brand using her background in behavioural economics and after months of development the first product was born. The Wig Fix is a skin soft, hypoallergenic, breathable and lightweight silicone headband that secures your wig, rollercoaster proof, while protecting your scalp and hair underneath. The Wig Fix now has over 50,000 wearers worldwide with a wide celebrity clientele.
Instagram: @therenatural
Winnie Awa - Founder of Carra Co.
Founder, Winnie Awa has over 10 years experience of building innovative consumer-tech platforms for world-renowned companies like Net-a-Porter, ASOS and LVMH. She initially launched cult platform Antidote Street, where she had a front-row seat to the biggest challenges facing textured haired women. This year she has launched Carra, a pioneering beauty-tech platform set to revolutionise the afro, curly and multi-textured hair market.
Instagram: @winnieawa
Sharon Chuter - Founder of UOMA
Nigerian born Sharon Chuter founded UOMA Beauty aiming to be an uber inclusive beauty brand with a rebellious, innovative range that is created for all. For years, the beauty entrepreneur has also been calling out the industry’s lack of representation of people of color and especially of black people. Summer 2020, she launched and spearheaded the iconic and much needed Pull Up Or Shut Up movement calling for big beauty brands to publicly release the breakdown of Black employees at the corporate and executive levels and requesting full accountability.
Instagram: @heysharonc
Roshanne Dorsett - Founder of Glowcery
With her innate passion for all things health, then beauty blogger Roshanne combined her passions to create the natural skincare brand that prides itself on high-performance products from fresh, natural, plant-based ingredients. Roshanne’s holistic, vegan lifestyle inspires her products as she was adamant in incorporating these values and the vital and nourishing minerals and vitamins you find in fresh food, into a skincare routine.
Instagram: @theglowceryshop
Tara Chandra & Susan Allen - Founders of Flo
Here We FLO is the female-founded brand launched by LSE university friends, Tara Priya Chandra and Susan Allen, bringing a fresh, fun and cheeky approach to the subject of menstruation with its ice-cream inspired design. The London-based start-up's mission to make products for periods as safe, comfortable, eco-friendly and fun as possible, resonates with a generation of women used to making informed choices about the products they consume.
Instagram: @hereweflo
Getty ImagesCashmere Nicole - Founder of Beauty Bakerie
Cashmere Nicole founded Beauty Bakerie in 2011 with the mission to be sweet and sweeten the lives of others. She was also extremely health conscious. She was inspired to create a brand that was research-driven, having both high quality and healthy ingredients that enhance the beauty in everyone, after going through a challenging, but successful fight with breast cancer.
Instagram: @cakeandcashmere
Getty ImagesSharmadean Reid - Founder of Beauty Stack
Founder Sharmadean Reid MBE is a British Jamaican entrepreneur who had first launched WAH Nails with concessions in Topshop Oxford Circus and Harvey Nichols Dublin, a product line at Boots UK, and a book. Reid founded BeautyStack, an image-based booking system for beauty professionals that also allows them to form networks. Sort of like a Instagram-LinkedIn hybrid, combining social discovery with in-app booking.
Instagram: @sharmadeanreid
Getty ImagesRihanna - Founder of Fenty Beauty
Global Music Superstar and fashion and beauty icon Rihanna was inspired to create Fenty Beauty after years of experimenting with the best-of-the-best in beauty and still seeing a void in the industry for products that performed across all skin types and tones revolutionising the entire Beauty Industry. She launched a makeup line “so that people everywhere would be included,” focusing on a wide range of traditionally hard-to-match skin tones, creating formulas that work for all skin types, and pinpointing universal shades.
Instagram: @badgalriri
Kristen Noel Crawley - Founder of KNC Beauty
Kristen Noel Crawley is an LA born, American Serial Entrepreneur, Speaker, Jewelry Designer, Fashion Style Influencer, Businesswoman, and Founder of KNC beauty. A trip to Japan ignited a skincare obsession and pushed her to launch her beauty empire. She first launched the KNC School of Beauty, an online school for BIPOC with small businesses within the world of beauty, skincare and wellness and then came the accompanying skincare line.
Instagram: @kristennoelcrawley
