Black Lives Matter — A Note from Frank Mouth
Black Lives Matter — A Note from Frank Mouth
Today, I planned to share a blog post about inclusivity in the beauty industry. I was going to tell you all about the ways Fenty Beauty, Glossier, and Milk make room for a diverse customer base by offering foundations in a rainbow of colors, highlighting an exquisite array of models, and utilizing language that puts the customer and their feelings first.
Because the strides that are being made in the beauty industry? They’re enormous. They’re significant. They’re radical. And we have Rihanna to thank for that. She made it necessary for companies to follow her lead. She created a wake others could ride.
And it’s inspiring af.
One of hundreds of #nojusticenopeace protests following the murder of George Floyd. Enough is enough. pc: our dear friend @grahamzimmerman
It’s hard though, to sit down today and write about makeup. I love makeup! And I love witnessing the progress that’s being made in an industry that has spent centuries worshipping whiteness.
But I don’t know how to write about it today in the shadow of our country’s mass protests against police violence towards black people.
Nothing we do in this world is separate from the work of dismantling racist systems. So it would be disingenuous to write a post today that didn’t address the state of our country.
Part of what makes Fenty Beauty’s approach so revolutionary is that their beliefs and values are woven into the fabric of their company. Rihanna made the decision to be the POC and black-centered, fat-positive and queer-affirming company she wants to see in the world.
So for our first blog post, in lieu of a deep dive into the progressive strides in the beauty industry, we’ll take this opportunity to tell you what kind of company we want to see and be.
We create beautiful copy here. We do. We’re well-versed in SEO and analytics. More importantly though, we’re deeply human. And I can tell you that behind the scenes, we’re having conversations about what it means to operate under oppressive systems on both a business and a foundational text level. I assure you that we’re committed to continuously learning about our whiteness and privilege, to listening more than we speak, and to always questioning our assumptions about who is being centered and uplifted.
And we look forward to further demonstrating that. In the meantime, however, we are hungry for justice and we join the chorus of voices mourning George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless others.
If you’re a white person who wants to learn more about our country’s history of racism and police violence, we recommend the following resources: