Belonging to Something Beautiful: The Importance of DE&I at Sephora

SEPHORA continuously works to build a community where diversity is expected, self-expression is honored, all are welcomed, and you are included – as reflected in our guiding principle, “We Belong to Something Beautiful.” Our DE&I approach makes this possible and holds us accountable. Here’s the progress we've made on our journey so far.

Sephora’s DE&I Mission and Vision

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to Sephora’s overall mission of championing all beauty fearlessly and creating inclusive environments. This focus is engrained throughout our organization, supported by our President and CEO, Artemis Patrick, and Chief People Officer, Corey Yribarren, down through our corporate, store and distribution center teams.?To realize these commitments, we created an action plan to hold ourselves accountable and tackle bias. This holistic strategy, called our DE&I Heart Journey, focuses on three areas:

1. Employees - who are key to who we are as a brand
2. Consumers - who deserve a welcoming, inclusive, and accessible experience
3. Communities - the brands, suppliers, and charities that reflect the diverse populations we work with and share our goals

Sephora recently published its fourth DE&I Heart Journey annual report. Here are a few of the main takeaways relating to our three focus areas.

An inclusive workplace for our employees

We want our employees to feel safe and supported and to feel that working here is more than just a job – because we know that without them, none of this would be possible. We hire with an inclusive mindset at the forefront so we can build a workforce that more accurately reflects our customers and communities.

With this mindset, our share of employees who self-identify as people of color grew 7% between 2020 and 2024. On the leadership level, our people of color VPs and above grew 14% in that timeframe, and the share of women VPs and above grew by 10%.

We’ve created robust emerging talent initiatives under our Sephora Pathways program, from an internship program to a Rotational Management Program that emphasizes career development, to a scholarship designed to empower BIPOC students pursuing a licensed career in beauty. We’ve also created an internal incubator program supporting leadership development of our talent of color.

Additionally, we’ve stepped up our hiring around people with disabilities. Launched in 2017, our All Abilities Hiring initiative now operates in all five of our North American distribution centers. Upon successful completion of the structured nine-week training program, graduates receive an offer to join Sephora full-time. Since inception, 317 employees with disabilities have been hired and now 8% of distribution center workforce is comprised of talent with disabilities.

A welcoming space for our consumers

Everyone who walks into a Sephora store should feel welcomed, respected, and provided with exceptional service. That starts with understanding our customers and their needs.

We were the first major retailer to sign the Fifteen Percent Pledge, dedicating at least 15% of our assortment to Black-owned brands. Since then, we’re proud to say we’ve nearly tripled our overall assortment of Black-owned brands and met the 15% mark in the hair care category. And, as part of this pledge, in 2023, we announced the first-ever Sephora Beauty Grant, awarding one Black beauty business owner $100,000 to unlock the next level of growth and potential for their brand.

In 2023, we also released the Sephora 2023 Disabilities Purchase Study, which was conducted to gain a better understanding of how people with disabilities navigated shopping and how to create an inclusive and accessible in-store shopping experience for everyone. It showed that 9 in 10 customers with disabilities say they shop in-store. However, 1 in 6 customers rated Sephora as inaccessible.

In response to this, a few of the actions we implemented include developing a series of trainings for our store employees, focused on ableism, invisible and visible disabilities, and allyship. We’ve also increased our use of mobile point of sale in stores so that our Beauty Advisors can check customers out from anywhere in the store instead of having to wait in line at the register, thus creating a more accessible experience.

A partner for our communities

Through charitable-giving initiatives and strategic partnerships, we strive to make those in our communities feel seen and heard. We’re proud to have partners that actively help shape our work on equity and the way we show up as a retailer in the beauty industry and beyond.

We partner with 12 Focus Charities each year, introducing more ways for our employees to get involved. These include Act to Change, which focuses on ending bullying for AAPI youth; Project Glimmer, which promotes girls’ empowerment; Unidos US, which champions civil rights, equity, and justice for the Hispanic community; and more.

Additionally, our Sephora Accelerate brand incubator program, focused on developing and launching BIPOC-owned brands, has graduated 33 beauty entrepreneurs since 2021. We’re particularly proud of the fact that more than half of our Accelerate brands from the 2021-2023 cohorts have launched at Sephora.

Behind the scenes we’re focused on growing our base of suppliers from underrepresented communities. The Sephora Supplier Diversity Champions are a group of designated individuals who drive results and impact by serving as advocates for supplier diversity. In 2024, almost 9% of our spend with suppliers was from underrepresented communities.

What’s next?

As we continue moving towards our goals, we’ll only get stronger. Progressing on leadership representation, inclusive culture, in-store experience, supplier diversity, and industry impact is so important, and we’ll continue to build on our achievements to inspire other companies and have a positive impact on beauty and culture at large.

At Sephora, we aim to drive change by leading the charge.

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