How Sharon Chuter’s 51 Inclusive Shades Changed Beauty Industry Norms

Challenging Norms and Building Community Born in Nigeria, Chuter spent years working with global brands including L’Oréal and LVMH before founding her own company in Los Angeles. In 2019, she founded Uoma Beauty, focused on making beauty more inclusive.

This brand became known for releasing 51 foundation shades aimed at meeting the needs of a wide variety of skin tones, far exceeding the typical shade offerings from competitors. Chuter’s public remarks and mission consistently focused on creating a company and products that reflect the diversity of real people.

She believed that diversity should be embedded in every product from creation to marketing. Pull Up for Change Radical Transparency Chuter’s influence spread beyond her own brand.

During the racial justice movement of 2020, she launched Pull Up for Change, which challenged beauty companies to disclose the number and percentage of Black employees, especially in leadership. Her efforts pushed hundreds of companies to share their diversity statistics publicly…