With just one hashtag—#PullUporShut Up—Sharon Chuter disrupted the beauty industry. At the height of racial tension that erupted in the summer of 2020, the Uoma Beauty founder launched the hashtag to
call out brands for a lack of diversity within the companies and on social media, and ask brands to publicly disclose their number of Black employees. The social call-to-action expanded to the birth of Pull Up For Change, Chuter's organization that set out to hold these companies accountable. In honor of Black History Month, Chuter and Pull Up For Change are launching a new campaign that reminds consumers how beautiful, timeless, and iconic the color black truly is.
The Make It Black campaign is Chuter's way of redefining how the color black is perceived in the world. Black is luxury. Black is beautiful. Black is chic. To get the message across, Pull Up For Changed has asked a slew of beauty brands to change their packaging to the color black for the month of February.
Participating brands include Briogeo, Colourpop, Dragun Beauty, Flower Beauty, Maybelline, Morphe, NYX Professional Makeup, PUR, and Chuter's Uoma Beauty. The limited-edition packaging will be sold exclusively at Ulta Beauty, as well as the Make It Black site and the participating brands’ websites.
"Language plays a critical role in how we perceive the world," says Chuter. "The function of language goes beyond expressing ideas and concepts, it shapes thought and defines our collective consciousness." As part of the Make It Black campaign, Chuter has also launched a petition to ask the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam Webster Dictionary to change the definition of the word "black," which has long been associated with dangerous definitions that present bias and hostility towards the Black community.
"Language should be neutral, unbiased, and reflective of our current realities. It is in this regard that the dictionary has work to do," she adds.
For every product sold, 100 percent of the gross profits will be contributed to Pull Up For Change's new Impact Fund, which raises funds to support Black-owned businesses and will be dispersed through live pitch contests. Black founders will submit their pitches to a forum where the public will then decide who the funding should be allocated to. Even if you don't buy any of the iconic products, the public will be able to donate directly to the fund.
For more information on the Make It Black campaign or to donate, visit makeitblack.org.