Glossier partners with Black Girl Fest to offer grant scheme in the UK

Glossier has partnered with Black Girl Fest to launch the Black Beauty Grant Programme, offering business and financial support to five Black-owned beauty brands in the UK.

The move follows on from the digital-first beauty retailer's inaugural Grant Program for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses in 2020, which resulted in Glossier partnering with more than 30 founders leading 26 innovative beauty brands in the US, providing them with funding and curated curriculums of business programming.

Created by Black Girl Fest and powered by Glossier, this latest Black Beauty Grant Programme is a 12-week learning programme that will support UK-based Black women founders to take their business to the next level, gain expert advice from industry professionals, and connect with experienced founders.

Applications are now open and will close on 9 May 2023 when five founders will then be selected to take part in the programme and each will receive a £10,000 equity-free cash grant.

"We're so excited to be working with Glossier to bring this programme to the UK. At Black Girl Fest, we're super passionate about creating economic impact for Black women that directly sparks the change we want to see in the Black Beauty industry. Super honoured to work closely with the wonderful team at Glossier to turn this vision into a reality," said Black Girl Fest, founder and CEO, Nicole Crentsil.

Crentsil established Black Girl Fest in 2017 and it was the UK’s first arts and culture festival dedicated to Black women, girls, and non-binary people. It is a global creative studio that builds projects with purpose to help create a better future for its community.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Black Girl Fest to bring the Glossier Grant Programme to the UK. As soon as we launched the programme in the US, we knew it was only a matter of time before we would take it across the pond, and saw a lot of excitement from our community members across the region. It was crucial that we collaborated with an expert partner on the ground with first-hand experience of being a Black female founder in the UK market. We’re so excited to work with Nicole and the whole Black Girl Fest team and of course to meet what we know will be an incredibly inspiring group of UK founders," added Glossier Inc Chief Marketing Officer Kleo Mack.