More than 50 companies have altered or scrubbed their DEI programming since last summer, but most major beauty brands have stayed the course. At e.l.f. Beauty, DEI is core to its mission and helps recruit the best talent, the company’s chief people officer recently told HR Brew.
Supporting everyone. Established in 2004, e.l.f. Beauty proclaims that it stands with “every eye, lip, face, and fin.” While the company of roughly 650 doesn’t have a dedicated DEI team, CPO Scott Milsten said that it’s core to e.l.f. Beauty’s mission.
“Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is infinite,” e.l.f. Beauty’s public DEI policy reads. “We are committed to ensuring that diversity is represented across our entire team…We promote DEI at all levels of our workforce, and our senior leadership team takes full ownership of our DEI initiatives and programs.”
The Oakland, California-based company takes a holistic approach to DEI, from products, recruitment and retention, to advertising. It promotes DEI with employees, 76% of whom are millennials and Gen Z, through employee resource groups, inclusion training, and diversity audits to ensure the programming is effective and inclusive. In 2024, 74% of employees and 78% of the board of directors were women, while 43% of employees were from historically underrepresented racial groups.
“You can see our work across women in sports, or the work we did to talk about how diverse boards actually enhance overall performance and results,” Milsten said, noting that e.l.f. Beauty’s approach will not change even with the current pushback against DEI programs. “We haven’t diminished that in any way. We’re very proud to stand for positivity, inclusivity, and we think it’s part of our success recipe.”
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Milsten added that employees and job applicants are attracted to e.l.f. Beauty because of what it stands for. “The most universally read document…is our impact report,” Milsten said, noting that applicants point to the report more than the products during job interviews. “We shine a spotlight on our inclusive culture…throughout that, you’ll see the culture, and I think it really jumps off the page about what kind of company this is.”
E.l.f. Beauty has grown steadily since 2020, so Milsten said, “it’s hard to abandon something that is core to our mission and has been driving some of that business performance.”
Beauty is more than skin-deep. The beauty industry appears largely unphased since the attacks on DEI ramped up in 2023. As the Trump administration and anti-DEI provocateurs have fueled misinformation about DEI, many retailers, tech companies, and financial firms have backed away from their programming. At least for the beauty industry, inclusive brands see more success and are growing faster than brands that aren’t inclusive, according to the 2025 SeeMe Index, which examined the performance and inclusivity of 100 beauty brands.
In February, Sephora released Beauty and Belonging, a documentary-style film to showcase the beauty of diversity and how employees feel at the company. ”Our employees are the heartbeat of the organisation, and I am convinced that when they feel empowered to embrace and define their beauty, that will deepen the connection and impact that Sephora has with our customers and partners,” Xia Ding, managing director of Sephora Greater China, said in a statement.
For now, it appears that much like the perfect foundation and powder combo, beauty brands and DEI go hand-in-hand.