Sharon Chuter, CEO and founder of Uoma Beauty, has worked diligently to bring awareness to corporate bias and create opportunities for black founders and employees in the beauty field. Last June, Chuter launched the revolutionary #PullUpForChange campaign (opens in new tab), calling on companies to disclose workplace demographics; in her latest campaign, launched on February 5, Chuter and Pull Up For Change are working with Make It Black campaign, which further moves the needle by partnering with nine beauty brands for the campaign.

The partnerships with Briogeo, Colourpop, Dragun Beauty, Flower Beauty, Maybelline, Morphe, Nyx, Pür, and Uoma have resulted in a limited edition collection of iconic all-black products, Ulta.com (opens in new tab) and MakeItBlack.org (opens in new tab). "This campaign brings together amazing beauty brands to amplify and celebrate the Black voices that we are so committed to at Ulta Beauty." We are proud to offer our customers a carefully selected and exclusive assortment of products that can spark powerful dialogue, help change perceptions, and, very importantly, accelerate the journey of future beauty leaders."

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100% of the profits from the collection will be donated to the Pull Up For Change Impact Fund, which will provide grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 to emerging black founders. There are many mentoring programs for aspiring black entrepreneurs, but access to funding is extremely scarce, Shooter explains. The entire Impact Fund process will be extremely transparent. For starters, business pitches drafted by applicants will be posted on Make It Black's Instagram page (opens in new tab), where the public can vote on them.

In connection with the launch, Chuter also issued a call to action for Merriam Webster to remove negative definitions and synonyms for the word Black from the dictionary. In the open letter and petition (opens in new tab), she outlines the detrimental effects that negative connotations embody: "Language plays an important role in how we perceive the world. Language should be neutral, unbiased, and reflective of current reality. In this regard, dictionaries have a job to do."

Her goal is for Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary to replace the derogatory associations of black with positive, contemporary expressions: "Black is a synonym for luxury, timely and classic (little black dress), formal (black tie event).