Sharon Chuter’s ‘Make It Black’ Campaign Is Back to Support Black Founders

Sharon Chuter keeps changing the beauty world. After launching her own beauty brand, Uoma Beauty, in 2018, she started the Pull Up or Shut Up initiative in the summer of 2020, challenging brands to put their money where their mouth is in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.  She kept the movement going with her Make It Black campaign during last year’s Black History Month, and this year she’s doing it yet again. 

Starting February 3, the campaign is back. Make It Black has partnered with eight brands and two retailers to reimagine the their best-selling products in sleek, all-black packaging. These limited-edition products from UOMA Beauty, E.L.F. Cosmetics, MAC Cosmetics, Mented, Morphe, Flower Beauty, Ulta Beauty, Ipsy and BoxyCharm will be available during all of Black History Month at Ulta, as well as the brands’ own channels. 

“I hope it shows everyone who sees these products the transformative power of black,” Chuter told Glamour last year about the project. “When we say black is beautiful, it’s not just something every Black person uses to console themselves. Black indeed is truly beautiful. When you take something that was any other color and turn it black, you know what it looks like: It instantly looks luxurious. It instantly looks beautiful. Absolutely sleek. Absolutely chic.”

Chuter is taking it a step above optics—100% of profits from all participating brands will be going to the Pull Up for Change Impact Fund, which provides capital to emerging Black founders, who are historically underfunded. Last year the fund was able to raise over $400,000, which was deployed as grants to eight female founders. 

“As a Black Female founder, I understand, first-hand, the struggles of raising capital or accessing funding,” Chuter said in a statement. “In fact, I am one of only 93 Black women in the history of America who have raised over $1M for start-ups. On the other hand, the average white male receives $2.1M to fund their start-ups. We have a long way to go to create true economic equality, and there is no equality without equity. This is where I am proud to play a small part in supporting other Black female founders to make their dreams a reality, and to truly get the seat at the table that they very well deserve.”