According to WWD, Sephora has revealed the brands participating in its 2022 Accelerate brand incubator program.
Now in its seventh year, the Sephora Accelerate Program delivers a robust curriculum, mentorship, merchandising support, potential funding, and financial connections to all brands, who will have the chance to launch at Sephora after finishing the program.
A group of 10 BIPOC brand founders have been selected, with the brands covering all categories across Sephora, including skincare, makeup, hair care, and fragrance.
With Sephora’s aim to increase BIPOC representation in prestige beauty and in their assortment, the brands will go through a several-month program that involves sessions and access to other founders and beauty executives.
“We are committed to ensuring that the brands and products found at Sephora represent all the colours, races, and ethnicities that make up America, effectively building a beauty community to which everyone feels they belong,” said Sephora SVP Merchandising, Skin Care and Hair, Priya Venkatesh.
“To do so, it’s important that brand founders of all backgrounds have the opportunity and resources they need to grow their businesses and thrive. Through the Accelerate program, Sephora is committed to giving founders the long-term mentorship, access to market and scale they need to truly accelerate growth, with the program serving as a springboard for nascent brands to become visible, viable, stable, and financially solvent.”
In 2022, the the Accelerate cohort will include: Fara Homidi, founder of sustainable beauty line Fara Homidi; Basma Hameed and Parisa Durrani, founders of makeup brand Basma Beauty; Rimah Husain, founder of hair-removal brand Kempt; Selah Lemon, founder of fragrance brand House of Foster; Sravya Adusumilli, founder of botanical beauty line Mango People; Nisha Phatak and Madhu Punjabi, cofounders of clinical skin care line Lion Pose; Kiku Chaudhuri, cofounder of hair line Shaz & Kiks; Krys Lunardo, founder of skin care line Sistine; Carolina Contreras, founder of curly hair brand Miss Rizos; and Scarlett Rocourt, founder of hair brand Wonder Curl.
To begin, participants will be on-boarded into the Sephora ecosystem in preparation for Bootcamp in April 2022. During this time, finalists will go through a week-long series of education and inspiration sessions, with internal and external curriculum designed to help set brands up for long-term success.
A graduation phase will occur at the end of the program, and each brand founder will present a formal presentation to senior-level Sephora leaders.
