Rare Beauty Brands and JC Penney launch Lift Beauty Accelerator

Rare Beauty Brands, the parent company behind Patchology and Dr. Dana, has partnered with JC Penney for the latest edition of Lift Beauty Accelerator, a brand incubation initiative aimed at supporting beauty brand founders from underrepresented backgrounds.

Specifically, the program, sponsored by Black Beauty Collective (BBC) and Black Girl Ventures (BGV), seeks to empower Black and Brown female-identifying entrepreneurs in the beauty industry who have between $10,000 and $1 million in annual revenue.

This year, Lift Accelerator will select five early-stage beauty brands from these communities to receive comprehensive support with $10,000 grants, retail distribution from JC Penney, mentorship with beauty executives, and more.

“At Rare Beauty Brands, we are deeply passionate about the transformative power of entrepreneurship and have had the privilege of running incubation programmes for the past three years. This year, we are thrilled to introduce our newly revamped initiative, Lift Beauty Accelerator,” said Chris Hobson, CEO of Rare Beauty Brands.

“Working closely with past winners has been an incredible experience and we can’t wait to meet this year’s nominees. We are honored to collaborate with JC Penney and other incredible partners on our mission to support underrepresented founders in the beauty industry.”

Applications for the Lift Beauty Accelerator program opened on June 3, 2024, and the deadline for submissions is July 18, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Selected winners will be announced in late September.

“I am grateful to Rare Beauty Brands and JC Penney for their commitment to bridging the gap between independent and diverse beauty brands. Through partnerships like these, brick-and-mortar retailers like JC Penney are not only leading the charge to support diversity across the beauty industry, but are also directly impacting the independent brand owner base through our mission to scale and grow historically underrepresented brands,” added Leslie Roberson, Founder and CEO of Black Beauty Collective (BBC).