Sharon Chuter, magnificence veteran and founding father of Uoma Magnificence, has died, a member of the family has confirmed to WWD.
She handed away on Aug. 14 on a patio in Los Angeles, in response to the Los Angeles health worker’s workplace. The reason for loss of life remains to be being investigated.
Chuter was 38 years previous.
The Nigerian-born magnificence govt held roles at L’Oreal, Revlon and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton earlier than founding Uoma in 2019. The road, which included a hero basis that supplied 51 shades in addition to different complexion, lip, cheek and eye merchandise priced from $18 to $40, debuted at Selfridges and rolled out to Ulta Magnificence shortly after.
The road was born partially from Chuter’s goal to deliver significant inclusivity to magnificence at a time when, following Rihanna’s 2017 debut of Fenty Magnificence, different manufacturers within the area have been scrambling to be extra inclusive, and at occasions lacking the mark.
“Range grew to become a sizzling subject that each company was attempting to tick off their record,” Chuter instructed WWD on the time. “As an individual of shade, I used to be taking a look at it and there was no depth to it — it was shallow. All people was searching for fast wins.”
Uoma Magnificence’s hero basis.
Courtesy
In 2020, Chuter launched Pull Up For Change, a nonprofit group devoted to growing Black illustration within the company world. The group debuted in June that yr, when Chuter posted a video to Instagram difficult corporations to make public the variety of Black staff of their organizations and on their management groups.
Coined “Pull Up or Shut Up,” the social media marketing campaign sought to impress corporations to make extra substantial commitments to range than donating cash and posting black squares on Instagram, as so many did and publicized following the homicide of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
“Each single model and each single firm has an Equal Alternative Employment coverage,” Chuter instructed WWD when the marketing campaign launched. “All these manufacturers at the moment are standing in assist and donating, in the meantime, inside their organizations they don’t actively make use of Black folks — they haven’t any Black leaders. We have to transfer this dialog ahead.”
Sharon Chuter
Precisely one yr later, Chuter launched one other magnificence model — this time for the mass market — referred to as Uoma by Sharon C. Aiming to ship what Chuter described as “radical inclusivity,” the road debuted in June 2021 at Walmart with a variety of skincare and make-up merchandise priced from $6 to $24.
“It’s one of many largest launches we’re doing in Walmart historical past,” mentioned Musab Balbale, former vice chairman of magnificence at Walmart Inc., on the time.
In 2022, Chuter was named a CEW Achiever Award honoree for her innovation and resolve to make magnificence higher.
“Sharon may be very gutsy,” mentioned CEW president Carlotta Jacobson of Chuter on the time. “Regardless that corporations had applications in place, Pull Up created an acute consciousness that there was an enormous want there.”
“For me being a catalyst for change means ardour,” Chuter mentioned then in an interview. “That zeal drives the braveness to guide and problem the stuff you can’t settle for. However most of all, to like sufficient to hold the burdens that inevitably include being a changemaker in a world that’s fiercely opposed to vary.”
Chuter launched Uoma by Sharon C. in 2021 aiming to supply accessibly-priced, inclusive merchandise.
Photograph courtesy of Elena Kulikova/Uoma by Sharon C.
In 2023, Chuter debuted a “We See You” marketing campaign through Uoma, which starred muses from Jasmine Sanders to Leomie Anderson and confronted the notion of “not seeing shade” relating to race, as a substitute encouraging folks to not simply see racial variations — however embrace them.
Later that spring, Chuter departed her publish as chief govt officer of Uoma, additionally relinquishing her board seat.
“Though I’m stepping away from my function as CEO and board member, my imaginative and prescient for Uoma and its mission stays pricey to my coronary heart. I stay a shareholder and can proceed as an industry-leading product and artistic visionary for the model,” she instructed WWD in an e-mail on the time.
The model tapped Cyndi Isgrig, the previous president of Dermstore, to function interim CEO of the model, whose property have been then acquired that December by MacArthur Magnificence, an offshoot of The MacArthur Corporations. All traders exited the corporate upon acquisition besides Braintrust Fund, which stayed on.
Uoma went silent on social media from August 2023 by means of most of 2024, when it introduced that it was “again” through an Instagram publish in November. In February 2025, Chuter filed a lawsuit in opposition to The MacArthur Corporations and Braintrust Fund alleging that Braintrust “pushed Chuter out” of her operational roles underneath false pretenses, and that the sale of Uoma’s property was “illegal” and performed “to fulfill Settle’s $6.2 million mortgage, all with out Chuter’s information or consent.”
At the moment, Uoma nonetheless sells through Ulta, JCPenney and direct-to-consumer.
“I’ve all the time been a misfit,” Chuter instructed WWD in 2019 when she debuted the model. “The [beauty] {industry} has traditionally determined who is gorgeous and who will not be. I perceive the way it feels to be born feeling totally different — not totally different good, however totally different unhealthy…I recognize uniqueness and tales. Who’s behind the shade? What’s their origin story and what do they need? And the way will we create a world that permits for these totally different views?”
