VIDEO - Why beauty CEO Sharon Chuter started the 'Pull Up or Shut Up' campaign

One black business owner is urging the beauty industry to take their support of the Black Lives Matter movement seriously.

In response to the outpouring of love and donations from beauty brands over the past week, Uoma Beauty CEO Sharon Chuter launched the "Pull Up or Shut Up" campaign, which urges brands to share the number of black employees they have working in their companies.

In an introductory Instagram post for the 72-hour campaign, Chuter warned brands that they need to do more than simply issue a public statement condemning racism.

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"Whereas we understand and appreciate the support, be conscious that to piggy back off a trending hashtag when you have been and continue to be a part of the problem is once again appropriating and exploiting the black community. So we ask all brands who have released a statement of support, to publicly release within the next 72hrs the number of black employees they have in their organisations at corporate level. We also need to know the number of black people you have in leadership roles," she wrote.

Chuter shared several statistics about the number of black people employed in white-collar professions (8%) and revealed that only 3.2% of black people are in executive or senior management level roles. As part of the campaign, she urged consumers to stop buying from their favorite brands until they take part in the challenge.

In the spirit of total transparency, Chuter shared a look at her own company's demographics, revealing that 58% of employees are black and 75% are female.

The 72-hour campaign launched last Wednesday and a plethora of brands have risen to the challenge so far, including Ulta Beauty, who shared that 18% of their board members, 13% of their leadership team and 6% of their associates are black.

Sephora, who recently partnered with the National Black Justice Coalition, followed suit and announced that 14% of their employees and 6% of their leadership team are black.

L’Oréal USA, which owns a number of popular brands, also participated and acknowledged that they still have work to do when it comes to creating a diverse workforce.

"This difficult moment has re-affirmed our dedication to a path that we have been on for years to ensure that we are a truly inclusive company that represents the diversity of the consumers we serve. In a post earlier this week, we announced changes to our organization which will support our Diversity & Inclusion strategy. We will continue to advance and adapt this strategy with passion, purpose and urgency. We can, we must and we will do better. Transparency in conversations like this one are an important step," the brand wrote.

Other brands that stepped up to the challenge include Glossier, Bliss, Tarte, Revlon, Beauty Blender, e.l.f. and many more. Several celebrity-owned businesses, including Drew Barrymore's Flower Beauty, Jessica Alba's Honest Beauty, and Kylie Jenner's Kylie Cosmetics have also disclosed information about representation in their companies.

https://www.today.com/style/why-beauty-ceo-sharon-chuter-started-pull-or-shut-campaign-t183593