Sharon Chuter and Pull Up For Change re-launch the Make It BLACK campaign with new beauty brand partners to continue to shift perceptions around what it means to be Black and raise funds for the Pull Up For Change Impact Fund, which provides capital to emerging Black founders.
Teaming up with eight beauty brands, Make It BLACK launches today, February 3, for Black History Month. Participating brands include UOMA Beauty, e.l.f. Cosmetics, M∙A∙C Cosmetics, Mented, Morphe, Flower Beauty, Ulta Beauty, and IPSY/BoxyCharm.
The initiative was inspired by the #PullUporShutUp viral campaign in June 2020, which was a social call to action that demanded companies to publicly disclose the number of Black employees in their corporate office and leadership roles to help dismantle a system that has led to low economic participation for Black people.
The Make It BLACK campaign’s petition – which was created to get the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam Webster Dictionary to update their definitions of the word Black immediately – already has over 6,220 signatures and counting. As an integral part of the petition and campaign, Sharon Chuter herself has written an open letter to the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam Webster Dictionary and is writing 6,200 additional letters – in support of each petition signature – to push upon the dictionaries and advocate for real change.
100% of the gross profits from the limited-edition iconic Black products will be contributed to the Pull Up For Change Impact Fund, which deploys capital to Black-owned businesses and is allocated as grants to emerging Black founders. Last year, the campaign raised over $400,000 which was deployed as grants to eight Black female founders.
“Ulta Beauty is proud to join Sharon and Pull up For Change to empower Black beauty and drive meaningful change in our industry,” said Monica Arnaudo, the chief merchandising officer at Ulta Beauty. “As a values-based company, we share the passion to shape how the world sees beauty and the intention to build greater equity for Black founders. Make it BLACK helps achieve this and we’re honored to support as the exclusive retail partner.”