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An Update from Our CEO: IPSY’s $7 Million Investment in Black-Owned Brands

By Marcelo Camberos

Published on Jan 11, 2021

Close-up image of a Black model posing with white, super imposed text "beauty amplified" Mobile

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At IPSY, our mission is to inspire individuals around the world to express their unique beauty, but unfortunately, not all individuals have access to beauty products that suit their needs and not every community is represented in beauty. Black-founded brands face a uniquely difficult challenge. Starting a beauty brand from the ground up can be daunting irrespective of your starting point, and it’s no secret that Black-owned brands have long faced systemic racism. Black founders receive half the bank financing of their white counterparts and a mere 1% of venture capital funding. As a white-passing Latino, I am deeply aware of the privileges of my success and recognize that we would not have a thriving business if I had never received the funding to build it. As the CEO of IPSY, and now BFA Industries, I believe we have a unique opportunity to leverage our platform for Black-owned businesses to grow, for Black voices to be heard, and to create an environment that truly welcomes and embraces the underserved.

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This is why in June 2020, we made a public commitment to invest $5 million into the development and amplification of Black-owned beauty brands over the next year. Today, I am proud to share the progress we have made.

This month we are introducing Beauty Amplified, a new program at IPSY that identifies and amplifies Black-owned brands in the following ways:

Product investment: Investing an average of over 250,000 units per selected brand for Glam Bag sampling campaigns
Marketing amplification: Delivering twice the value of our standard marketing support to every participating brand to drive awareness and engagement
Product development: Providing access and introductions to our product development and supply chain resources
Business support: Providing $1 million for upfront investment in product sourcing

Our goal is to enroll 18 Black-owned brands in 2021, and thus far, we have secured 16 incredible brands including BASIC BEAUTY, BEAUTYSTAT, BRIOGEO HAIR CARE, BUTTAH SKIN, EDEN BODYWORKS, FENTY BEAUTY, INNATE, JERSEY SHORE COSMETICS, MENTED COSMETICS, MISCHO BEAUTY, MISTIK, PAT MCGRATH LABS, SAINT LUXE, SUPER SATIVA WELLNESS, TWISTED SISTA, and UOMA, some of which will be featured in the January Glam Bag. We are also forecasted to surpass our goal, with a committed $7 million total investment into our selected brand partners.

I am incredibly grateful for each and every one of these brands for their invaluable partnership and the delight they will inevitably bring to our community, and for our internal teams who have run tirelessly towards today and continue to push for more for tomorrow. Because we all know that this is just one step in our journey to making beauty more inclusive and welcoming to all.

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