BFA [Beauty for All] Industries, the parent company of IPSY and BoxyCharm, is furthering its commitment to diversity and inclusion by pledging a $25 million investment in 2022 to fund product investment, marketing amplification, product development resources and business support for Black-owned and Latinx-owned brands. To date, the company has invested over $20 million in 32 Black-owned brands across IPSY and BoxyCharm, far surpassing its initial $5 million commitment announced last year. The company has also hosted several thought leadership panels through their BFA Assembly and Clubhouse event series; partnered with GLAAD as an advisor for IPSY and BoxyCharm; and will be partnering with Las Fotos Project to elevate and spotlight the artistic work of talented teenage girls from underserved communities across BFA brands. Here, CEW Beauty News spoke to Marcelo Camberos, CEO & Co-Founder, BFA Industries, to learn more about the new funding, launching a bilingual brand, partnering with Sharon Chuter, and 2021 plans.

Beauty News: Explain how the 2022 investment will be used.
Marcelo Camberos: These funds will provide brands with product investment in our IPSY and BoxyCharm sampling and seeding programs, marketing support and content creation to amplify brand awareness and engagement, and upfront investment in product manufacturing and sourcing — one of the biggest hurdles that new brands and entrepreneurs face getting their businesses off the ground.

We’re painfully aware that Black founders receive only half the bank financing of their white counterparts, so in order to effectively address the equity gap, we need to start there. To that end, we’ve added four new Black-owned brands, giving them access to our world-class product development team and providing them with assistance.

In addition, we’ll earmark part of this investment to continue to develop Tresluce Beauty, the bilingual brand co-founded by Becky G. As a Latino myself, Becky’s desire to create a brand that celebrates, elevates and explores the Latinx experience and culture through beauty deeply resonates with me. Through Treslúce Beauty, we will share our cultures and our passion for making beauty more accessible to engage and inspire the broader beauty community.

BN: How has Treslúce Beauty is performing?
MC: While we can’t provide specific financials, we’re thrilled with Tresluce Beauty’s performance since it’s successful launch in June 2021.  Treslúce Beauty creates, celebrates and supports Latinx heritage and culture. We develop high-performance, conscious, vegan-friendly formulations that deliver high impact artistry. The brand has been incredibly well received and the Becky Made Me Do It Collection, an 18-piece collection, is already a top-seller and a testament to the dedicated makeup artistry fans within Becky G’s base.

Treslúce prides itself on uplifting the Latinx community, while ensuring we’re being inclusive of all communities. We will amplify the beauty, diversity and complexity of Latinx culture with the goal of advancing and influencing others’ understanding and acceptance of our cultura. And with that goal comes accessibility, which is why we’ve now expanded our shipping from the U.S. and Mexico to more than 150 more countries worldwide.

BN: Last year, the company appointed Sharon Chuter as a BFA Advisor.  Talk about the impact Sharon has played in assisting the company in meeting its diversity goals.
MC: Sharon is the definition of a change agent, and we are deeply grateful for her vision, support and guidance. She has been an incredible sounding board for our BFA Impact initiatives, giving us invaluable perspective on how we can develop more effective opportunities for our focused communities, from how we can improve and evolve our recruiting practices to how we can create better equity in merchandising our brands and products on site.

Sharon has brought us several key opportunities to help further our goals, including “Make it Black,” the initiative started by Sharon to transform beauty products to Black, with 100 percent of proceeds going to Black business founders. Sharon also enrolled us in Pull Up for Change’s Pitch Please, a competition that provided funding and coaching to Black women-owned businesses, and through it, introduced us to some amazing brands.

BN: What can we expect to see from BFA in 2021? 
MC: We have many exciting initiatives in the works as we continue to share best practices across our multiple business units and grow the brands within our portfolio. I’m particularly excited about our commitments to self-expression and sustainability through BFA Impact because I believe we’re uniquely positioned to create real change in the industry.

Earlier this year, we announced The Out List, a ban of 32 ingredients across our portfolio by the end of 2022, and our teams have been diligently working towards this goal. As an extension of this, we have started to roll out The BFA Clean Standard, a rigorous vetting process that highlights products that are free of more than 1,800 questionable ingredients. All of the products launched by Refreshments already adhere to The Clean Standard, and soon we will be introducing a badging system at IPSY to help our members navigate and shop for products that meet these guidelines. We have also started to pave a path towards our rather ambitious goal of eliminating 100 percent of virgin plastic waste by 2030, with some key milestones we’re aiming to hit in the later part of the year.