With the Beacon Awards program, Beauty Independent aims to amplify voices in the independent beauty community. That’s why it’s crucial that members of our community get involved in the selection of winners. We’re asking that community—Beauty Independent’s amazing paid subscribers—to share testimonials for this year’s Beacon Awards nominees. Please, give them some well-deserved love.
Brand supporters are able to submit testimonials through Sept. 5. To submit a testimonial, they select the drop-down menu on a nominee’s online page on Beauty Independent’s website to see the entire list of category nominees and click on the brand they wish to share their thoughts about.
“Beacon Awards winners are chosen by a group of the foremost experts in beauty and wellness, but taking into account a diverse array of perspectives is really important,” says Beauty Independent executive editor Jane Carlson. “Providing an opportunity for paid subscribers to submit testimonials has been so helpful to the expert evaluators in the past. These testimonials can really tip the scale.”
The Beacon Awards program, which is sponsored this year by Atelier by Voyant Beauty, leverages the expertise of Beauty Independent’s editorial team to determine the most relevant categories and nominate the entrepreneurs, investors, retailers and brands that represent the innovative and diverse field of independent beauty.
The nominees are subsequently evaluated by one of five expert committees. Each expert committee is composed of five industry leaders who are assigned to their committees based on their knowledge and skill set. No expert will be evaluating a category in which they have a preexisting business relationship with any of the nominees. The community testimonials will be submitted to expert evaluator committees to help inform the winning selections.
“Beauty Independent was incredibly supportive of Hero Cosmetics by covering our brand’s growth and nominating Hero for Beacon Awards throughout our journey,” says Hero Cosmetics co-founder and Beacon Awards expert evaluator Ju Rhyu. “It’s an honor to be on the other side as an expert evaluator giving other brand founders and entrepreneurs that support. Hearing directly from this community via testimonials will certainly influence my decision-making in determining category winners because having a dedicated, informed community is what sets the emerging beauty sector apart. Their opinions hold weight.”
Over the next several weeks, the 21 expert evaluators will have the difficult task of choosing the winners from the accomplished cohort of 116 nominees. Amika CEO Reuben Carranza, Voyant Beauty chief commercial officer Andrew Davis, Unilever Prestige CEO Vasiliki Petrou, Shiseido SVP of global M&A Carla Ruiz, Wander Beauty founder Divya Gugnani, and Verity Venture Partners co-founder and managing partner Tina Bou-Saba have recently been added to the group of expert evaluators for this year’s Beacon Awards program.
Along with Rhyu, returning expert evaluators include Beauty Pie founder and 2020 Beacon Awards industry icon winner Marcia Kilgore, Salt and Earth Labs founder and CEO Angela Umelo, 2021 Beacon Awards entrepreneur winner and Asutra owner Stephanie Morimoto, Carol’s Daughter founder Lisa Price, investor Janet Gurwitch, Fat Mascara co-host Jennifer Goldstein, L’Oréal executive Carol Hamilton, KSJ Collective beauty retail strategist Kelly St. John, and Ulta Beauty indie beauty specialist Muffy Clince.
The 2023 Beacon Awards nominees were unveiled in early August. There’s a wide range of contenders, including brands, retailers, investors and entrepreneurs like New Incubation Ventures, Ari Bloom, Sheena Zadeh-Daly, Allies of Skin, Deon Libra, Futurewise, Beautyologie and Adwoa Beauty.
The full list of 2023 Beacon Awards candidates is available here. The winners will be revealed during a live virtual event on Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. EST.
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