Amy Liu’s objective for Clean Beauty Summer School — the program she launched in 2020 to democratize beauty entrepreneurship — hasn’t changed. If anything, not only does it help champion the vision of fledgling BIPOC founders who may not have access to mentorship and funding, but every year the program evolves.
From the outset, the CEO and founder of beauty brand Tower 28 cast a wide net, seeking out founders from BIPOC and other under-represented communities to award 10 finalists 10 weeks of virtual mentorship and summer classes from established brands and academics, with one winner chosen to receive a suite of prizes.
Having just completed its fifth year, Liu said these tenets are still in place.
“The caliber [of entrants] has gotten higher,” she said. “I don’t think there is any less of an appetite or demand for being a founder today. I can’t imagine it being any higher than it is now. It is so sexy in our society to be an entrepreneur. If anything, what I’m hoping is that our program increases the odds in their favor, that people can come in without a lot of the privileges that in the past were associated with entrepreneurship, and still have an opportunity to succeed.”
Clean Beauty Summer School 2024 attracted approximately 200 applicants from across the US. This year video pitches replaced written applications, and content creators were added as an entrepreneur category. Ultimately, 10 finalists were selected and in mid-September they gathered in Los Angeles to kick off their mentorship reward at IPSY’s studios in Santa Monica. There founders networked and attended panels helmed by leaders from the tech, beauty, marketing, and VC industries.
On September 16, a panel of judges announced one winner from each category. Ashley Harmon of Mela Vitamins was the winner of the founder category, while Skye Edith Bannister was named the winner of the content creator category. They each received prizes valued at $35,000, including legal retainers, sales and marketing support, and $10,000 in cash.
“We looked at it as, ‘if we give this to you right now, at this point in your trajectory, will it help you launch to your next point?” said Liu. “If she’s given this prize, will this be able to increase the odds of success for this next part of her journey?”
For the winners, being chosen was a vote of confidence that they are on the right path.
“This is incredibly meaningful,” said Harmon, the founder and CEO of two-year old Mela Vitamins. The brand is a daily vitamin designed for melanated bodies based on the premise that melanin impacts a person’s ability to absorb vitamin D from the sun. “As a founder who doesn’t often see people like me represented in this industry, it’s especially significant. Many of us have been historically excluded from the beauty and wellness industry, so the work Tower 28 is doing to amplify underrepresented voices is truly pushing the industry forward.” Harmon is planning to expand her line, which is currently available on its e-commerce site as well as Amazon and Target.com, to include a prenatal product and a beauty supplement for textured hair.
Skye Edith Bannister, whose upbeat and cheerful #bluebannister Instagram handle has more than 17,000 followers, said she knew she was ready to apply to the program when her community hit 10,000.
“I realized my content was really connecting with my audience and with that would come even more opportunities and brand partnerships that I would need help navigating,” she said. “(This program) has provided with me so much knowledge and clarity on where I want my career to go.”
Liu said the program has also been successful in building community among founders, and to her, that is its real value. Finalists included Gently Soap, a brand of upscale soap bars for sensitive skin founded by former eczema sufferer Kristen Dunning, and Uzima, a hair care line for coily, kinky, and curly hair. Mentors this year included David Yi of Very Good Light, Michelle Ranavat of RANAVAT, and Ron Robinson of BeautyStat.
Liu has stayed in contact with previous participants and winners, including 2020 finalists 54 Thrones, a shea-butter based line founded by Christina Funke Tegbe that’s now carried in Sephora, and Hanahana Beauty, also a shea butter line, which is now sold in Ulta Beauty.
“The reality is that the life of a founder is hard. It’s kind of lonely. The likelihood of success is not super high,” Liu said.
As for how to evolve Clean Beauty Summer School next year, Liu hopes to continue to foster the sense of community and connection she instilled in the program from day one.
“The thing I’m proud of most is that people — the teachers, the mentors — they give their time. Nobody gets paid. Everyone is volunteering. I don’t know if it would happen otherwise. Everyone just says ‘yes’. I don’t know any other industry as well as I know this one; I’ve worked in beauty for 22 years. In the beginning, there weren’t so many women, certainly not so many women of color in positions of power. And I will say, from my perspective, I think it’s an incredibly collaborative industry.”
