
#PullUpOrShutUP: Beauty Brands Are Asked To Release Their Numbers Of Black Employees And Execs

Over the last decade, the beauty industry has been perceived as one of the most inclusive industries in the world. With diverse influencers across the globe and an influx of black-owned businesses over the last few years, it seemingly had diversity and inclusive expertly managed. But in the wake of hard conversations about race in society, a serious challenge was issued to the industry to show us the receipts!
Pull Up or Shut Up is a digital campaign that challenged beauty brands who have released a statement of public support for Black Lives Matter, to publicly release the number of black employees they have in their organizations at corporate level/leadership roles. Started by founder of UOMA Beauty, Sharon Chuter, this initiative is fighting for economic opportunities for black people. "To at this point, to still be absolving yourself from the role you have played and continue to play in the marginalized and oppression of black people, shows that a lot of these efforts are just PR stunts," Chuter says in her inaugural call to action video.
The call to action spread furiously, with beauty influencers like Jackie Aina and Nyma Tang echoing the challenge on their own platforms. While the initial call was for 72 hours post statements, brands are continuing to pull up. The big powerhouse ULTA reported 18% Black board members and 13% Black executive team leaders, while Sephora reported 45% people of color in corporate offices, with 6% being Black. L'Oreal, a self-proclaimed company for multicultural women, reported 7% in corporate positions and 8% at the executive level is black. Since L'Oreal owns juggernaut brands like Maybelline, Essie, Carol's Daughter and Kiehl's, any increase at these brands would make a sizable difference in the lives of many black people.
The cruelty-free brand ColourPop reported 3% black participation and acknowledged there's work to be done. ColourPop's rise to fame coincides with the rise of the influencer, including black influencers like Ellarie and Shayla. PUR is 30% black; Boxy Charm is 8%; and fan-favorite Supergoop! has 2 black people in leadership roles. Smaller brands like Sunday Riley reported 9.1% in management roles, with 20% of the top highest compensated people being Black.
As we can see, many brands profited from black culture without consciously investing in black lives. Without transparency, we cannot start an honest dialogue about the changes that need to happen in our society. It's imperative.
In 2019, only four Fortune 500 companies had a black chief executive, down from seven less than a decade ago. There are more than 1,800 Fortune 500 companies; that discrepancy creates a serious disparity between the black community and other communities. The black community spends $1.2 trillion a year, and that number was projected to $1.5 trillion by 2021, pre-COVID. Black hair care alone raked in an estimated $2.51 billion in 2018.
The black dollar is extremely powerful, yet the black community benefits very little from it. The black dollar is not being reinvested into the black community, but instead into systems that actively neglect and oppress the black community in various facets.
This is about more than representation. It's rooted in the overall mission to build generational wealth for black families. Race-based economic inequality is a persistent feature of the United States that is at odds with the national narrative regarding wealth and racial equality. White households earning more than their black counterparts remained largely constant or even widened between 1967 and 2015. Historical and present-day forms of racism have systematically disadvantaged black communities in their pursuit of economic opportunities.
The profit of black culture without black participation has to stop.
Roughly 8% of people employed in white collar professions are black, and only 3.2% of them are in executive or senior management roles. An active and ongoing push to diversify corporate boardrooms and leadership roles drastically change the landscape for black families. It goes beyond beauty and skincare. Currently, challenges have been issued to Fashion Nova and Nike without any comment from the brands.
Personally, I would like to see other industries follow suit. The fashion industry is extremely underrepresented and has been since its inception. To see the makeup of your favorite glossies and brands would facilitate very interesting conversations, the kind needed to change our world.
Keep up with what brands responded to the challenge and released their numbers by visiting the Pull Up For Change Instagram.
Featured image via Atlas Agency / Shutterstock.com
Courtney is a contributing writer, based in Puerto Rico by way of Tennessee. Interested in the intersection of fashion and culture, she has an affinity for fashion, empowerment, and really good tacos. Keep up with her on Instagram (@hautecourtxo).
Eva Marcille On Starring In 'Jason’s Lyric Live' & Being An Audacious Black Woman
Eva Marcille has taken her talents to the stage. The model-turned-actress is starring in her first play, Jason’s Lyric Live alongside Allen Payne, K. Michelle, Treach, and others.
The play, produced by Je’Caryous Johnson, is an adaptation of the film, which starred Allen Payne as Jason and Jada Pinkett Smith as Lyric. Allen reprised his role as Jason for the play and Eva plays Lyric.
While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Feature image by Leon Bennett/WireImage
Raven-Symoné & Her Wife Miranda Get Real About Intimacy & Why They Sleep In Separate Bedrooms
Raven-Symoné and her wife Miranda Pearman-Maday are proof that doing marriage your way is the only way.
In a recent solo episode of their podcast Tea Time w/ Raven & Miranda, the couple revealed that they've started to share separate bedrooms, and no, it's not because they're having problems. In fact, the decision has actually brought them closer. "Let's normalize it," Miranda said of sleeping in separate bedrooms, calling it a move that improved their relationship and their marriage for the better.
"We really function in better in separate spaces, especially when it comes to sleep," she explained on the podcast. "And I was like, 'We should have separate bedrooms.' And then we can decorate our bedrooms as we want, number one, which is great because you had a different vibe, so we both wanted to have different style of bedrooms. Now we get to have that. And we aren't fucking up each other's sleep schedules. Primarily, you're not fucking mine up, which is getting up at 2 a.m., 4 a.m. Raven, babes, you love to sleep in the reverse orientation."
She wasn't exaggerating either. Raven admitted that she has always had an issue with sleeping in normal orientation, dating back to her childhood. "When I was younger, I've always had a problem with staying in one orientation when I slept. My mom said that she would not like to sleep with me. And I would kick people when I sleep with them. And so I remember when we got engaged. We slept in my old house and you told me that when you woke up, my ass was in your face because I had turned my body around."
"One night, you literally flipped. I thought you were awake because it was so, it was so violent. Like you were sleeping on your side away from me. You flip yourself up and over, you like kinda sit up, and you had no clue where you were because you put your entire ass on my face. Both cheeks were suffocating me. Boom, it was impact," Miranda recalls. "And I was like, this is, this is going to be a challenge."
Suffice it to say, the incident became an issue. One that they needed to find a solution for. "So now," Raven said, "we've decided I'm sleeping in a separate room from you." The compromise? Whenever they need each other, "We text," Miranda added.
Despite where your mind might go when you hear "separate bedrooms" in someone's relationship, the pair assured that the move has helped their intimacy more than it's hindered it. "I will say it has upped my [feels] for you," Raven told Miranda. "There's a little bit of, I believe, in absence makes the heart grow fonder. We work together, we live together, we eat together, we cook together, we drive together. It's like, I'm going to have a little time to myself, and I think that it's actually helping."
Even with the perks of better sleep and better intimacy that have come with their decision to separate their marital bed, Miranda admitted that if someone had suggested to her separate bedrooms a year ago, she would've panicked.
Together since 2015 and married since 2020, Miranda revealed that the would-be solution initially had her questioning, "Does this mean divorce?" But she chalked that up to programming. "I was very much from a space where I was taking my information from heterosexual [relationships], [and feeling like] this is the best way," she said.
Raven also took the conversation deeper, pointing out how many people conflate sex with love, especially when it comes to intimacy. "I also think if you are basing your entire relationship on sex, then you're not really understanding what intimacy is. You're not understanding what deep love is because you can have a deep, loving, intimate relationship with someone and not have sex. Sex is like a cherry on top. You know what I mean? That's like a oooh, it's built up so much I got to release."
She continued, "I don't think sex defines a relationship. I think sex is lustful. And I think that a deep marriage and a deep intimate relationship is where I can literally be just looking at you, and I can be like... And you know what that means."
"And I know what that means," Miranda echoed.
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Featured image by Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock