Ulta Beauty Unveils Third MUSE Accelerator Cohort And Partnership With Fifteen Percent Pledge On Award

Ulta Beauty has unveiled the eight early-stage brands participating in the third edition of its MUSE Accelerator program and a partnership with nonprofit Fifteen Percent Pledge on a $10,000 award for one of the brands. 

The brands are Apostle, a male cosmetics brand founded by Jamie Melbourne and Tony Lecy-Siewert​; Audaja, a skincare brand founded by Audrey Ajakaye; Byroe, a superfood skincare brand founded by Amy Roe; Femigist, a feminine hormonal wellness brand founded by Amara Onwukaeme​; Luna Nectar, a haircare brand founded by Mia Fiona Kut; Ocoa, a curly haircare brand founded by Nicol Varona Cancelmo and Cory Varona​; Queen Cosmetics, a makeup brand founded by Elimar Depaula​, and RedDrop, a tween period care brand founded by Dana Roberts, Jarrod Shaw and Monica Williams. 

Starting Wednesday, the MUSE Accelerator program features a 10-week curriculum, including a brand strategy and positioning session with the involvement of Beauty Independent’s editorial team, and mentorship from beauty industry leaders. Fur co-founder Lillan Tung, Bread CEO and founder Meava Heim, Cocokind founder and CEO Priscilla Tsai and Kitsch CEO and founder Cassandra Morales Thurswell are among the mentors. Each participating brand receives $50,000 to help fuel growth and prepare for retail distribution.

For the first time in the three-year history of the MUSE Accelerator, nonprofit Fifteen Percent Pledge founder Aurora James will select a member of the cohort to receive an additional $10,000 at the end of the program. In June 2021, Ulta signed on to the Fifteen Percent Pledge to commit 15% of shelf space to Black-owned, -founded and -led brands. The beauty specialty retailer also committed to doubling the number of such brands and putting $25 million toward diversity and inclusion efforts. Since then, Jessica Phillips, VP of merchandising at Ulta, reports the retailer has doubled the penetration of Black-owned and -founded brands. 

“Ulta Beauty understands that today’s consumers want the brands they see on retail shelves to reflect the diversity they see in their communities,” says James, creative director of lifestyle and accessories brand Brother Vellies as well as founder of Fifteen Percent Pledge. “Fifteen Percent Pledge is proud to continue our partnership with Ulta Beauty and support the MUSE Accelerator program, an incredible resource for emerging entrepreneurs to build their brands. I am excited to meet the amazing businesses in this year’s cohort.”  

According to Phillips, Ulta’s new initiative with Fifteen Percent Pledge resulted from discussions between the retailer and nonprofit about Black beauty brand founders’ needs. “They need more resources. They absolutely need the mentorship,” she says. “There’s a lot of discussion around over-mentorship and underfunding, which I think is true, but mentorship and smart money is the best, right? It is pairing the mentorship and the resources.”

“Ulta Beauty understands that today’s consumers want the brands they see on retail shelves to reflect the diversity they see in their communities.”

Phillips likens the process of evaluating brands for MUSE Accelerator to evaluating brands for Ulta’s assortment, although there’s no guarantee MUSE Accelerator participants will enter the assortment. To assemble MUSE Accelerator’s third cohort, Ulta zeroed in on brands’ values and visions, founder stories and product efficacy.

Phillips says, “We’re trying to build a community of exceptional brands and founders…and trying to find, where are the gaps we need to fill in our assortment or what are the gaps in the market and how do these brands fill them?” She adds that identifying wellness brands was a top priority for the 2024 edition of the MUSE Accelerator program because wellness is an “increasingly important adjacent category” and “area where we’re really looking for innovation, a specific point of view and brands that lean into education.”

Octavia Morgan, CEO and creative director of fragrance brand Octavia Morgan Los Angeles and MUSE Accelerator 2023 alum, lauds the program as transformative for her brand and her understanding of what it means to be retail ready.

“Prior to joining MUSE, I had a general grasp of the retail landscape. However, the Ulta team provided an unparalleled education across all critical areas from PR, marketing, HR, cyber security, material sourcing and brand pitching, including how to engage with retailers and venture capitalists,” she says. “The comprehensive nature of this program has significantly strengthened my capabilities as a CEO and enhanced the resilience of our brand.”

Select MUSE Accelerator participants get the opportunity to pitch Ulta Beauty merchants at the conclusion of the program. Ulta recently brought on board Monique Benoit, formerly a consultant to emerging brands and senior buyer at Anthropologie, as a senior merchant with a focus on BIPOC-owned brands. When she was a consultant, Benoit mentored MUSE Accelerator brands, and Ulta was so thrilled with her mentorship that it hired her on a full-time basis. The conclusion of MUSE Accelerator’s program has a Demo Day in which participants pitch investors, too. 

Every edition of MUSE Accelerator, Ulta strives to improve its program. This year, it will incorporate more trend information in the curriculum. Looking forward, Phillips, who’s leading merchandising as Ulta heads to Mexico next year, dreams of the accelerator expanding to the country. She says, “I’m excited for the future of this program and not thinking of it in a linear way. Yes, we can serve more founders, but that could be in other countries.”