The Prestige Beauty Retailer's Corporate Social Impact Program Welcomes 13 New Members from Around the Globe for its Largest Initiative To-Date

Sephora, the leader in global prestige beauty omni-retail, remains dedicated to building the future of innovative female beauty entrepreneurs around the world. This year, the retailer selected 13 new Sephora Accelerate Cohort members working across three categories: Merchandising, Technology and Sustainability. In its third year, the program has expanded to include the largest number of entrepreneurs to-date from a total of seven countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and now, France, Switzerland and China.

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As an Accelerate cohort in 2018, these female founders will receive months-long programming, allowing them to acquire the necessary skills to create and evolve into successful businesses. Specifically, they will receive in-depth instruction and feedback during a one-week bootcamp with expert guidance from Sephora and program partners. In addition, each entrepreneur will have the opportunity to tackle their business challenges through one-on-one mentoring from Sephora leaders and beauty industry experts, such as Pamela Baxter, former CEO and President of Christian Dior Couture and Nancy Twine, Founder and CEO of Briogeo Hair Care, as well as receive monetary grants to support their business endeavors. To conclude the 2018 program later this fall, each member will participate in the Sephora Accelerate Demo Day, giving them a platform to present their companies to industry experts, venture partners and senior Sephora leaders with the goal of future business growth, programming and networking.

"We're thrilled to welcome these 13 diverse and inspirational female beauty business CEOs and founders into the 2018 Cohort. Each one of these women represent immense talent, intelligence and innovative thinking within their respective fields, and what better way to celebrate their induction into the Accelerate program than an introduction on International Women's Day," said Corrie Conrad, Head of Social Impact and Sustainability for Sephora. "We're proud to offer these entrepreneurs a comprehensive ecosystem of support to help them achieve their beauty business objectives, not just with this year's programming, but also by leveraging our alumni network that will continue to increase with each new Cohort."

As part of SEPHORA STANDS, the company's broad social impact strategy to inspire confidence and fearlessness among women, Sephora Accelerate was created based on the insight that even in an industry where beauty customers are predominantly female, beauty business women are still underrepresented. As the program continues to grow year over year, Sephora Accelerate is on track to support more than 50 women-led beauty businesses by 2020.

Meet the 2018 Sephora Accelerate Cohort:

TECHNOLOGY

SUSTAINABILITY

MERCHANDISING

Please visit SEPHORA STANDS to learn more about the program, its benefits and this year's Cohort. @Sephora @SephoraLife #SephoraAccelerate

About Sephora Sephora is a leader in global prestige omni-retail, teaching and inspiring clients to play in a universe of beauty and wellness, while creating the world's most loved beauty community. Having earned its trail-blazing reputation through its expertise, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit, it has also been a pioneer in an unbiased approach to experiential retail since its debut in North America 20 years ago, a year after its acquisition by luxury group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. At Sephora, clients have the opportunity to play with 14,000 products from 200 carefully curated brands, access personalized service recommendations at the Beauty Studio aided by ground-breaking digital innovations, and all supported by Sephora's expertly trained beauty advisors found in more than 500 stores across the Americas, as well as 600 locations inside JCPenney. Clients can also experience Sephora through an award-winning website, mobile apps, and access the most inclusive beauty platforms, including the Beauty Insider Community and @Sephora social media. And those that shop with Sephora stay rewarded with Beauty Insider, a free to join member community that offers unique rewards and customized experiences across three spending tiers. Let's Beauty Together. For more information, visit: https://www.sephora.com/about-us

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DeVries Global for Sephora Deanna Rodriguez, 212-546-8508 DRodriguez@devriesglobal.com