One Year Into Pull Up For Change, Has the Beauty Industry Really Progressed?
Originally published by Refinery29
In June 2020, Pull Up for Change took on the beauty industry by challenging brands to report their percentages of Black employee representation. One year after “pulling up,” M·A·C Cosmetics remains committed to ensuring its workforce reflects the communities it serves and is now closer to achieving its racial parity goals at all levels.
“Fighting systemic racism is a long-term journey. Last year was about taking an introspective look at ourselves and the areas we could improve on as a brand,” said Drew Elliott, SVP & Global Creative Director, M·A·C Cosmetics. “Now that we’ve laid out the foundation of our commitments, we will continue to build on those efforts, and already have a series of new initiatives in the pipeline for the remainder of 2021.”
Per Elliott, those initiatives include: working to ensure MAC’s workforce better reflects the racial demographics of the United States; increasing racial parity across all levels via partnerships and Howard University’s 21st Century Advantage Program, a professional development program for business students; providing resources to advance racial equity with support and partnerships with Women of Color on Broadway, The Links, Incorporated, Boys and Girls Club of Harlem, and Sigma Gamma Rho; internal advocacy by improving diversity training programs based on ongoing employee feedback, required unconscious bias training, and the formation of the M·A·C Melanin Beauty Collective, a taskforce of Black M·A·C Artists to advise and educate the brand about Black beauty, as well as the M·A·C Movement, an internal advisory board to mobilize employees around commitments to racial equity and advise the brand on injustice issues; partnering with leading Black creatives and faces in the brand’s campaigns; and working to make MAC products accessible to all skin tones — and that’s just in the US alone.
“Offering a more diverse shade range or featuring diverse faces in campaigns is a step in the right direction, but brands also need to put in the work internally and externally,” Elliott said. “People at the counter need training on how to service people of all skin tones. We need diverse points of view at the table when developing products and campaigns. We need to stand up and be an ally when we are called upon, and sometimes when we are not.”
