Youthforia Hires Director Of Product Development After Creating The Role In The Wake Of Controversy Surrounding Its Foundation
Fulfilling a pledge it made in the wake of controversy over shade 600 of its Date Night Skin Tint Serum Foundation, which TikTok content creator Golloria George described as “literally jet black,” Youthforia has hired a new director of product development.
Oby Jemedafe, former director of marketing and product development at Uoma and marketing and product development consultant at Cécred, has stepped into the role at the makeup brand established by Fiona Co Chan in 2021. Speaking to publication Women’s Wear Daily, Jemedafe, who was involved in the formulation of Uoma’s extensive foundation shade range, said she jumped at “the chance to be part of a solution.”
She elaborated, “We’re putting processes in place to ensure that we never have a situation like this again, where a product wasn’t tested properly on skin tones…We now have consultants; we’re working with makeup artists, beauty veterans, influencers, every step of the way — from product ideation to launch — to ensure we’re representing people both in terms of skin color, but also representing them in the way they want to be represented.”
Jemedafe certainly has enormous responsibilities on her plate as she examines Youhforia’s existing products and directs forthcoming ones under the glare of social media. Influencers and consumers will undoubtedly be closely examining the brand’s product launches for inclusivity missteps. Youthforia teed up that the director of product development role would have a myriad of responsibilities in a job listing for it on its website in June that was widely disparaged on social media for too expansively incorporating product development and diversity, equity and inclusion duties.
Youthforia posted the job listing simultaneously with TikTok and Instagram posts on its commitment to providing inclusive products that seemed to acknowledge the backlash to shade 600, but didn’t directly address or apologize for the shade at the time. In the listing, the brand delineated 19 key responsibilities of a director of product development across product development leadership, project management, regulatory compliance, product marketing and DEI initiatives such as engaging with the BIPOC community and collaborating with vendors to ensure DEI considerations are integrated into the product development process.
On Wednesday, in tandem with revealing Jemedafe had joined Youthforia, Co Chan issued an apology for shade 600 on social media and assumed full responsibility for it. She explained she didn’t respond to the uproar over the shade earlier because it was right as she was about to give birth to her son and she needed to take a moment to figure out how Youthforia could improve.
Co Chan said, “I just want to be clear, there was never any ill intent when we were creating any of the shades, but a few things did slip through the cracks, and for that, I am genuinely, genuinely sorry. I never want to create products that are negative…but this product really offended you guys. It really hurt you guys, and for that, I will always be very sorry.” She added, “Makeup is not just about this thing that we put on our face. It’s really about our individuality and showing up in the way that we want to show up, not in the way that maybe other people see us.”
“Things did slip through the cracks, and for that, I am genuinely, genuinely sorry.”
Youthforia has dropped shade 600. It currently sells 24 shades of Date Night Skin Tint Serum Foundation, 15 it released in August last year and nine it released in March this year. The $48 foundation has been at the eye of a social media storm since it made its debut, and George slammed the darkest shade of the initial collection as not matching her skin tone before castigating shade 600 for being “tar in a bottle” not matching anyone’s skin tone and asking for it to be pulled off the shelves.
Following George’s censure of shade 600, the retailers and e-tailers Credo, Thirteen Lune and Revolve exited Youthforia. According to WWD, its DTC traffic fell 30%, and it lost around 3,000 social media followers as well. Previously, its sales had been advancing at a triple-digit pace.
Today, Youthforia is available across Ulta Beauty’s network of almost 1,400 stores and at e-tailer Soko Glam. Along with Date Night Skin Tint Serum Foundation, its products are $36 BYO Blush, $32 Night Off Face Wash, $18 Blush Brush, $36 Pregame Setting Spray and $38 Pregame Daily Protective Primer. It focuses on sustainability and makeup it characterizes as an extension of skincare.
Youthforia isn’t done building its team. The brand has five job listings on its site for director of brand and integrated marketing, director of national accounts, freelance makeup artist/beauty advisor, marketing intern and freelance graphic designer.
Youthforia is among several brands George has called out for products and product ranges that fall short on inclusivity. Her videos taking brands to task regularly receive millions of views. Last week, she put YSL Beauty’s six-shade Make Me Blush Liquid Blush range on blast. “They all have a white base,” said George in a TikTok video. “None of these are going to work on skin as dark as mine.”
George’s TikTok reviews have forced brands to change. Following posts about Rhode’s blush shades not being inclusive, brand founder Hailey Beiber reached out to George to consult on new blush shades suitable for dark skin tones. One/Size by Patrick Starrr’s Turn Up The Base Blurring Foundation developed a dark shade that works for George’s skin after she reviewed an earlier foundation range that didn’t have a shade right for her.
Four days ago, George informed her audience—she has 2.3 million followers on TikTok—that she’s on hiatus from social media due to “colorist, anti-Black, and racist rhetoric.” She wrote, “To exist in the beauty space as dark-skinned women is exhausting and unnecessarily violent. Listen to Black women. Tone inclusion is the absolute bare minimum.”
This article was updated on Sept. 29.
