UOMA Beauty founder Sharon Chuter is using this year’s Make It Black campaign to (literally) redefine what “Black” means in the Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries.

UOMA Beauty founder Sharon Chuter is using this year’s Make It Black campaign to (literally) redefine what “Black” means in the Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries. We told you how Chuter started the #PullUpOrShutUp campaign following the Black Lives Matter protests, calling for brands to reveal how diverse their teams are. And last year, she launched the Make It Black campaign to “redefine what it means to be Black,” partnering with Ulta, Ipsy, and beauty brands including E.l.f Cosmetics, MAC Cosmetics, Morphe, Mented, and Flower Beauty to release products repackaged in black, with profits going toward the Pull Up for Change Impact Fund. In 2021, they raised $400,000 for Black-owned businesses and allocated funds to eight founders during a pitch contest held at the annual Essence Festival. While the campaign plans to collaborate with the same brands and release products in “new sleek black packaging” for Black History Month this year, Chuter is taking the initiative even further. She launched a petition asking supporters to call for dictionaries to change their meanings of the word “Black,” and recently wrote an open letter to Merriam-Webster and Oxford, who she believes have “perpetuated systemic racism with their negative definitions.” To Chuter, the word means “bold, beautiful, timeless, and chic,” and she plans to send a copy of her open letter to the dictionaries for each of the 6,2220 signatures on her petition. (InStyle)