Glossier Renews Grant Program for Black-owned Businesses

Glossier is giving another round of grants to Black-owned beauty businesses.

In a blog post published on Glossier’s website today, founder and chief executive officer Emily Weiss revealed that the brand’s Grant Program for Black-owned Beauty Businesses would be reprised for 2021. Applications are accessible on Glossier’s website and will be open until May 27.

“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,” Weiss wrote in the post. “With our work inside and outside of Glossier, we’ll be intentional and iterative, doubling down on the initiatives that drive progress.”

The brand inaugurated the program last year, which gave $500,000 to its 16 recipients. It was the first foray in a larger commitment to put $10 million into fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in the beauty industry by 2025. For the first iteration of its grant program, Black beauty entrepreneurs based in the U.S. could apply for grants of either $10,000, $30,000 or $50,000; recipients also benefitted from mentorship opportunities. Last year’s recipients included Trinity Mouzon Wofford of Golde and Cameron Moore of Flaunt Body.

Part of the brand’s initial promise included using $5 million to bolster diversity internally. Glossier’s last reported diversity numbers, as of June 2020 via Sharon Chuter’s Pull Up for Change initiative, said Black employees made up 9 percent of respondents to a corporate diversity survey. None of Glossier’s 15 employees at the vice president level or above identified as Black.

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