Diversity in beauty: Sephora’s BIPOC accelerate program, Mielle Organics’ Art Of Hair campaign
Sephora North America announces the eight Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) brands selected for its 2025 Accelerate program, an incubator designed to enhance and propel emerging beauty brands. Meanwhile, Mielle Organics and Rolling Out have created the Art Of Hair campaign celebrating expression through hair care with Black artists, influencers and entertainers at Art Basel — an art fair in Florida, US.
Innova Market Insights identified a top global trend in the personal care industry as “Celebrating Individuality.” This trend is based on brands formulating launches to meet the needs of consumers of diverse racial and gender identities who seek to be “seen” and have their needs met.
Many brands are gearing product launches in the global personal care market to specific underrepresented groups of consumers. According to the market researcher, new products in the realm of personal care trends are tailored toward specific ethnicities.
The Sephora Accelerate program features a six-month curriculum with mentorship, merchandising support, grants and investor connections. The recipients also have the opportunity to launch at Sephora North America after completion. This year’s cohort spans hair care, makeup, skin care and fragrance.
Program promotion
The Sephora Accelerate program pivoted in 2021 to focus on brand founders of color. Since then, 33 brands have completed the program, and over half are now available at the beauty retailer.
Sephora’s 2025 Accelerate program helps develop small BIPOC-owned beauty brands.“This program has become a proven platform for championing diverse founders and empowering them with the resources, expertise, and community they need to launch and thrive,” says Priya Venkatesh, global chief merchandising officer at Sephora.
“The continued interest from this year’s applicant pool reflects the program’s impact and the demand for unique, innovative brands that reflect today’s diverse beauty landscape. At Sephora, we are proud to stand alongside these founders, ensuring they have the tools and support to succeed far beyond the program.”
Participating founders receive access to personalized one-on-one consulting with Front Row and Clarity Media, plus a dedicated advisory team composed of beauty industry partners, legacy founders from within the Sephora portfolio and financial professionals.
There are also monetary opportunities, such as the Sephora Beauty Grant, which awards US$100,000 to a Black beauty business owner to propel brand growth. This is in partnership with the Fifteen Percent Pledge and Nancy Twine’s Dream Makers Founder Grant, which supports underrepresented female founders in the consumer space.
Arts and culture
Mielle’s Art Of Hair campaign is a continuation of its 10th anniversary celebration.
The hair care brand says its partnership with the Historic Hampton House is central to the campaign. The Historic Hampton House is a history museum in Florida and the only Green Book Hotel Museum in the world. The Green Book was an annual guidebook first published in 1936 that helped African Americans safely navigate the roads of the segregated US.
During the Art Basel fair, the museum will open its exhibit, “Invisible Luggage,” which highlights the idea of shelter and safety as integral to cultural production and collective creation. “The selected works reflect the importance of building and celebrating sites of refuge, renewal and reflection,” says Mielle.
At the campaign event, participants spoke on their personal hair journeys, creative processes and explored the cultural significance of “avant-garde” hair art within the Black community.
“By showcasing these artists’ unique perspectives, we inspired a broader dialogue about identity, creativity, and the transformative power of hair,” adds Mielle.
Mielle Organics has a wide range of hair products.
According to the brand, Mielle is the fastest-growing Black-founded, woman-led hair care brand for textured hair. It uses natural ingredients like rosemary, mint and babassu oil. In partnership with Procter & Gamble Beauty, Mielle’s line is sold in over 100,000 stores and in over 90 countries.
Celebrating diversity
Earlier this year, Sephora North America hosted its inaugural Sephora Impact Summit, an event focused on building, supporting and championing BIPOC brands within the retailer’s network. The event was created to provide a dedicated space for BIPOC founders to learn, connect and access resources to fuel their entrepreneurial journeys, with attendees including the 2024 Sephora Accelerate cohort.
Similarly, Glossier announced five recipients of its UK Black Beauty Grant Program in partnership with Black Girl Fest Studios, aiming to “change how the world sees beauty.” The Glossier Grant Program invests in Black beauty entrepreneurs to address “legacies of inequity, exclusion and barriers to fundraising.”
This week, Estée Lauder partnered with Origins and Jo Malone London to celebrate the 2024 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) homecoming season by hosting a weeklong “The Beauty of Homecoming” event at Florida A&M University, US. The initiative offered immersive brand experiences, professional development and networking opportunities for the HBCU alumni attendees.
