The status quo? We don’t know her.
“I wanted to make products that the majority of the world could use,” says Sharon Chuter over a Zoom call from London, England. “It sounds silly to even say this out loud because it’s not a genius or radical idea.”
Chuter is the Nigerian-born founder of makeup brand Uoma Beauty, a line of high-impact, pigment-dense face, eye and lip products (think eyeshadow palettes featuring vibrant metallics and jewel tones and luxe skin-blurring finishing powders) inspired by Africa’s rich cultural diversity. The brand also pays homage to culturally influential female icons like Sade and Cleopatra via product names and campaign imagery.
Chuter has been a natural outspoken leader for as long as she can remember. For example, she was the brains behind 2021’s viral Pull Up for Change campaign, which encouraged companies to reveal how many Black employees and employees of colour they had on staff, especially in leadership positions. “My mom quickly realized that I wasn’t going to live a conventional life; I wasn’t ‘Nigerian wife’ material,” she laughs. “Where I’m from, you’re supposed to be polite and not too outspoken. And you’re supposed to get married. I said: ‘Screw it! I’m going to focus on other things.’”
So, after working in a variety of industries — including pharmaceuticals, music and the corporate side of beauty as an LVMH executive — Chuter launched Uoma (which means “beautiful” in Igbo, the native language in southeastern Nigeria, and is pronounced “oma”) in 2019. She did so with an ambitious 51 shades of foundation straight away — not because she had to answer to anyone or appease investors but because she believed it was what consumers needed. “I didn’t have any restrictions, and I hadn’t dealt with any big conglomerates, which meant I could bring a new voice into the conversation.”
Chuter says that others suggested she came…
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