Rare Beauty Brands and JCPenney Bring Opportunity and Capital to Black and Brown Female-Identifying Founders in the Beauty Industry
02 Julio 2024 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Introducing LIFT Beauty Accelerator, a brand incubation
initiative from Rare Beauty Brands (parent company of Patchology
and Dr. Dana), JCPenney and prestigious sponsors including Black
Beauty Collective (BBC) and Black Girl Ventures (BGV) dedicated to
fostering a vibrant community of pioneering beauty brand founders.
LIFT Beauty Accelerator was created with a mission to empower
female-identifying founders from underrepresented backgrounds. In
2024, the LIFT Accelerator will support five early-stage beauty
brands from these communities with $10,000 grants, retail
distribution, mentorship with beauty executives, and more.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240702319096/en/
LIFT Beauty Accelerator was created with
a mission to empower female-identifying founders from
underrepresented backgrounds. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Winners of the LIFT Beauty Accelerator will receive:
NON-DILUTIVE FUNDING
- Minimum of $10,000 to each of the five program-winning
brands.
RETAIL OPPORTUNITIES
- Opportunity to pitch JCPenney for potential in-store or online
product distribution.
- 1 Year Membership in the BBC and placement in Chicago & Los
Angeles storefronts.
PRACTICAL MENTORSHIP
- Cross-functional team of industry experts from Rare Beauty
Brands and their partners.
- Mentoring focused on real-time needs instead of an established
curriculum, allowing guidance to be personalized to each
winner.
IN KIND SERVICES
- Claims support testing, Benchmarking Co.
- Product testing, Validated Claims Support
- Product registration, The Good Face Project
- Retail Support Software & VOB, BeautyFluent
- 1-Year Membership, Independent Beauty Association
Applications opened on June 3, 2024, and the deadline to submit
is July 18, 2024, at 5 p.m. ET. Winners will be announced in late
September.
“At Rare Beauty Brands, we are deeply passionate about the
transformative power of entrepreneurship and have been privileged
to host incubator programs over the past three years. This year, we
are thrilled to introduce our newly rebranded initiative, LIFT
Beauty Accelerator,” says Chris Hobson, CEO of Rare Beauty Brands.
“Working closely with past winners has been an incredible
experience, and we are eagerly anticipating this year’s applicants.
We are honored to collaborate with JCPenney and other amazing
partners in our mission to uplift underrepresented founders in the
beauty industry.”
“I am thankful to Rare Beauty Brands and JCPenney for their
commitment to bridging the gap for diverse indie beauty brands.
Through partnerships like these, legacy retailers like JCPenney are
not only leading the charge to support diversity across the beauty
industry, but are also directly impacting the baseline of
independent brand owners through our mission to scale and grow
historically underrepresented brands,” says Leslie Roberson,
Founder and CEO of Black Beauty Collective (BBC). “Having
participated as a judge for the 2023 Black Girl Ventures pitch
competition, I’m excited that Black Beauty Collective can be a part
of the inaugural LIFT Beauty Accelerator. By partnering with Rare
Beauty Brands and JCPenney, we can continue our commitment of
diversifying the beauty industry by ensuring diverse beauty
founders scale quickly and thrive in retail so they can reach their
full potential.”
ENTRY CRITERIA:
- Black and Brown Female-Identifying beauty brand founders
- Brands that have between $10,000 and $1 million in annual
revenue
- Business must be past the ideation phase with fully developed
product or service, ready for customer or with existing
customers
- Located in the United States and operate in the beauty and/or
personal care industry, including but not limited to: skincare,
hair care, color cosmetics, nail care, fragrance, bath and body
care, tools and accessories, or wellness
To learn more about the LIFT Beauty Accelerator, please
visit https://rarebeautybrands.com/lift-beauty-accelerator/.
About Rare Beauty Brands
Rare Beauty Brands’ mission is to develop and scale unique
brands with a truly positive impact, that inspire and empower. In a
word, rare. Rare Beauty Brands (RBB) is the parent company of
skincare-meets-selfcare brand Patchology and
dermatologist-developed nail health and treatment brand Dr. Dana
Nails. RBB’s LIFT Beauty Accelerator program provides more
visibility, supplier diversity opportunities, corporate mentorship,
and funding for founders. For more information, visit
rarebeautybrands.com.
About JCPenney
JCPenney is the shopping destination for America’s diverse,
working families. With inclusivity at its core, the Company’s
product assortment meets customers’ everyday needs and helps them
commemorate every special occasion with style, quality and value.
JCPenney offers a broad portfolio of fashion, apparel, home, beauty
and jewelry from national and private brands and provides personal
services including salon, portrait and optical. The Company and its
50,000 associates worldwide serve customers where, when and how
they want to shop – from jcp.com to more than 650 stores in the
U.S. and Puerto Rico.
In 2022, JCPenney celebrated 120 years as an iconic American
brand by continuing its legacy of connecting with customers through
shopping and community engagement. Please visit JCPenney’s Newsroom
to learn more and follow JCPenney on Facebook, Instagram, and
Twitter.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240702319096/en/
jcpnews@jcp.com