Sephora 2023 Accelerate Incubator Brands Announced

Sephora North America has announced the participants for its 2023 Accelerate brand incubator program. The cohort includes seven BIPOC brand founders spanning fragrance, makeup, and skincare who applied in the Fall of 2022.

Sephora said its Accelerate program, now in its eighth year, will continue to focus on BIPOC-founded and owned brands as part of its commitment to increasing BIPOC representation in its product assortment.

The 2023 Sephora Accelerate Cohort includes:

• Brianna Arps, Moodeaux (fragrance).

• Malaika Jones, Tai Beauchamp, Nia Jones, Brown Girl Jane (beauty and health).

• Alicia Scott, Range Beauty (makeup)

• Sienna Brown, Glosshood (beauty)

• Camille Martin, Seaspire Skincare (skincare)

• Karen Young, Oui the People (inclusive bodycare)

• Simedar Jackson, Of Other Worlds (beauty)

“We are very excited to welcome all 2023 finalists to the Accelerate program and into the Sephora family,” said Priya Venkatesh, Senior Vice President, Global Merchandising. “Our program continues to create spaces for BIPOC-founded and owned brands that represent our clients and the world today, all while providing meaningful support for growing brands to succeed.”

This year's program aims to prepare BIPOC-founded beauty brands to launch at Sephora North America via bespoke support from those in the retailer's ecosystem of beauty entrepreneurs and experts. With a focus on building community and collaboration across the beauty industry, the program features six months of weekly content and curriculum dedicated to elevating the brands and positioning them for long-term success, with programming such as Nancy Twine's (Briogeo) financial readiness series; Vicky Tsai’s (Tatcha) brand plus assortment strategy sessions; and marketing sessions with Amy Liu (Tower 28).

Advisory Team: Founders & Investment Experts

In addition to the support the founders received over the last two years in the form of merchant sponsorship and partners both internal and external, the 2023 Accelerate class will also be offered an advisory team inclusive of beauty industry partners, founders from within the Sephora portfolio and financial professionals.

• Investment experts include Ken Suslow, founder and managing partner at Sandbridge; Alicia Sontag, co-founder and managing partner at Prelude; Trevor Nelson, founder and managing partner at Aria Growth; Alisa Williams, partner at VMG; Ron Mackey, managing director at Pendulum; Janet Gurwitch, operating partner at Advent International and Phillipe Glessinger, partner at Redo Ventures.

• Brand founders and legacy partners include Mazdack Rassi of Milk Makeup, Wende Zomnir of Urban Decay + Caliray, Twine of Briogeo, Lilli Gordon of First Aid Beauty, and Greg Gonzalez and Joe Cloyes of Youth to the People and Christine Chang and Sarah Lee of Glow Recipe.

In its second, year of partnership with Sephora, beauty branding agency School House will continue to bring individualized brand workshops and strategy to the program focusing on providing a bespoke approach to each Accelerate founder.

All 2023 participants applied to the program in Fall 2022. Eligible applicants were required to be at least 18 years old, have a North American-incorporated company, and be in the early stages of development. In selecting finalists, Sephora said it also considered each brand’s vision, innovation and current stage of product development.