Renewing our Grant Program for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses
Emily Weiss, Founder and CEO
Last year, we created the Glossier Grant Program for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses, which provided advisory support and $500K in grants to sixteen innovative beauty companies. Today, I’m excited to share that we are renewing the Grant Program for 2021 as part of a broader $10 million commitment to bolster equity, inclusion, and representation in the beauty industry over the next five years.
When we launched Glossier in 2014, it was with a deep belief in the power of beauty—as a source of joy, a conduit for connection, and a means of self-actualization. Our mission is to inspire everyone to find joy and confidence in their personal beauty style, and to achieve that, we're building a new kind of beauty company: one that empowers people to be their own beauty expert. We're also energized by the opportunity to play a role in democratizing and diversifying the beauty ecosystem more broadly, which starts with supporting the next generation of beauty startups and entrepreneurs through initiatives like our Grant Program.
Our team had the honor of getting to know the incredible founders of the 16 businesses who were part of our 2020 Grant Program, spending six months watching them grow and scale their startups, and celebrating with them as they achieved major milestones: Deon Libra launched their editorial site, Luna Magic successfully pitched on Shark Tank, Epi.Logic was picked up by Violet Grey, and The Most became venture backed after years of bootstrapping. I left our closing call feeling optimistic about a future industry with these founders at the helm. We are eager to hear from our next wave of applicants: your stories, your plans for the businesses you’re building, and your vision for the role beauty can play in our lives. Applications are now open through May 27th, and more details on the program and how to apply can be found here.
Renewing the Grant Program for a second year is just one way that we hope to have a positive impact on our industry. Building a more equitable and inclusive beauty ecosystem starts from the inside out, which is why 50% of our $10M commitment ($5M) will go towards continuing the work underway to advance equity, inclusion, and belonging at Glossier for our corporate team and future retail employees (when we reopen stores), through learning and development, recruiting, leadership training, our employee resource groups, and much more. With our work inside and outside of Glossier, we'll be intentional and iterative, doubling down on the initiatives that drive progress.
To our customers and community: thank you for coming on this journey with us. You are the inspiration for the future beauty company and industry we hope to build.
