Camilyn Flores

PRL 214
February 21, 2022
Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty does have various commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. Ulta

Beauty believes beauty is for everyone and is committed to producing a more inclusive world

with the power of beauty and bringing to life the possibilities that lies within everyone. To fulfill

their journey, they are making intentional commitments to further champion DE&I so the guests,

associates, brand partners and communities feel connection and reflection at Ulta Beauty. In

2022, there is a total planned investment of $50 million, doubling 2021’s commitments, towards

brand amplification, support, assortment growth and equitable. In Ulta Beauty’s promise to

amplify underrepresented voices, there is approximately $25 million in media investments with

multicultural platforms to support personal connections with Latino, Black and other

multicultural beauty enthusiasts. Ulta is also building upon the newly established and widely

proclaimed MUSE platform with goals to magnify, uplift, support and empower Black voices in

beauty by investing $8.5 million to brand marketing support for Black-owned, Black-founded

and Black-led brands within their assortment. They are also planning on launching a Brand

Partner Accelerator Program focused on early-stage BIPOC beauty brands. In this program, they

will provide time, resources and mentorship to educate, inspire and support brand development

for retail readiness. $5 million is invested in New Voices, a venture capital firm that works with

and invests in entrepreneurs of color to promote a scalable, sustainable businesses and create

generational wealth. These are only some of the missions Ulta Beauty obtains for their

commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

 These initiatives have been in place since 2021. They were initiated because of their

belief of having the power to shape how the world sees beauty and a responsibility to inspire

positive change and drive a greater diversity, inclusivity, and equity. The target audience for Ulta

Beauty is women of ages 16-25. According to a consumer discretionary conducted by Smf.

Business, about 57% of beauty shoppers are considered “beauty enthusiasts” and they are part of

the company’s loyalty program. Ulta’s rewards member count also grew 17% in the last quarter.

Moreover, many shoppers are part of their loyalty program and commit their beauty shopping at

Ulta Beauty.

In my opinion, these initiatives are necessary because it creates a more inclusive

community for diversity and equity. These initiatives are required because they attract a diverse

community to shop and it encourages multicultural people to become employees. By having a

commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and equity it promotes a safe place for everyone to feel

comfortable within the store. A study conducted by Comparably, shows that Ulta Beauty’s

diverse employees score 67 out of 100 across various culture categories, which places them in

the top 50% of companies with 10,000+ employees for Comparably’s diversity score. Ulta

Beauty has won 2 awards in 2018, one for Best Company for Women 2018 and Best Company

for Diversity 2018. In sum, Ulta Beauty is being successful with their commitment towards

diversity, inclusion and equity by attracting a diverse population of both shoppers and

employees.

The diversity and inclusion statements align with Ulta beauty’s mission, values and

vision statements as all of them contribute to creating possibilities which fuels dreams, lift

people past their limits and encouraging the creativity that lies within people. Ulta Beauty is

focusing on DEI throughout its work so that multicultural shoppers and employees become more
prominent in the beauty community. The goal is to push everyone towards the number of

possibilities that they can have, no matter what their background is. This is done by supporting

Latino, Black, and other multicultural communities’ brands. Various funds go towards promoting

different brands that have greater potential. This goes with their statement that says “Diversity &

inclusion are at the heart of what we stand for. Beauty is for everyone and we are committed to

creating a world without limits.”. With repeated attempts to creating a more diverse community

in the beauty world, it is proven that Ulta Beauty does care about DEI.

Ulta Beauty has done a great job in keeping their promise to DEI but like everything in

this world, there is always room for improvement. Ulta Beauty is highly focused on Black-

owned brands, Black-led brands and Black-founded brands which is amazing but can improve on

their connection with different ethnic groups such as Latino and Asian-American. Although Ulta

has taken initiation to promote more companies that come from different multicultural groups,

there can be more representation for the ones who aren’t really spoken about.