What do beauty retailers Sephora, ELF Cosmetics, and ColourPop all have in common? Their teams are using Dynamic Yield to help them build amazing digital experiences with agility and speed, allowing them to increase revenue and gain a sustainable advantage in a highly competitive online market. And for a limited time, Dynamic Yield, the experience optimization platform, is offering a free personalization assessment to identify opportunities that can move the needle for your business. Powerful insights await at dynamicyield.com/totalretail.
Welcome, welcome to Total Retail Talks, your podcast channel for retail knowledge. Hello and welcome to this episode of Total Retail Talks. I'm Joe Keenan, editor-in-chief of Total Retail. And joining me today is Kecia Steelman, the chief store operations officer at Ulta Beauty. And we're going to be talking to Kecia today about Ulta Beauty's investment in driving access and equity in beauty across its entire business, stores included, and website and e-commerce business. We have some great information that we're going to share. So, thank you today for joining me, Kecia.
Thanks, Joe. I appreciate you having me on to Total Retail Talks today to share Ulta Beauty's commitment in driving equity and inclusivity in our company-wide diversity and inclusion efforts.
Yeah, this is great. It's such a timely and important topic. And one I would be remiss in not mentioning that Kecia was recently announced will be becoming the chief operating officer, taking on a new role at Ulta as there have been some management changes. So, congratulations there and do you want to tell us a little bit about that transition?
Sure. Thanks, Joe. I'm really honored to be elevated to the role of COO. It's truly been a privilege working for Mary Dillon the last six and a half years. She's an incredible CEO. And at the same time, I partnered really closely with Dave Kimbell since day one, and I look forward to him becoming the next CEO of Ulta Beauty in June. He has my trust and the confidence of the entire organization. We have a world-class leadership team that I know Dave's going to continue to lead us through many more successful years here at Ulta Beauty. I'm excited for everyone.
So, as I alluded to, we are going to talk a little bit about what Ulta Beauty is doing to drive access and equity across its business. The company recently announced it will be investing $25 million to drive that initiative. Talk a little bit about why this has become a strategic initiative for Ulta Beauty. As the nation's largest beauty retailer, we really have the power to shape how the world sees beauty. We also have a responsibility to drive greater diversity, inclusivity, and equity. Here at Ulta Beauty, throughout 2020, we really leaned into our foundation and accelerated actions to directly address areas where we have impacts. It's important to look at that both internally and externally. February starts our new fiscal year at Ulta, and we thought it was the perfect time to go out loud and proud and share our five key areas of focus. The first one is really about amplifying and investing in underrepresented voices. Approximately $20 million of this spend is going to be allocated towards multicultural media throughout 2021, which is doubling the investment that we've had over the last three years. We've launched this great campaign called MUSE, which stands for Magnify, Uplift, Support, Empower, to really celebrate, honor, and amplify Black voices in beauty. The second key area of focus is around Black-owned brands. We're working on doubling the number of Black-owned brands in our assortment by the end of 2021, and we're investing around $4 million in helping support those Black-owned brands and their success at launch. The third is around guest experiences. We've invested in quarterly in-store training for all store and salon associates that start this month and continue throughout the year. Our fourth is around associate experiences. We've doubled our DNI trainings for 2021 for the second year in a row, and we've launched an inclusive recruiting effort with a diverse slate mandate across all parts of the enterprise. Our fifth is really about ongoing learning and accountability. It's not just about what we're focused on here inside Ulta Beauty, but also having accountability partners outside of the organization. We've enlisted Tracee Ellis Ross as our diversity and inclusion advisor and counsel, and we know that she's going to hold us accountable all along the way. We also instituted an internal governance with executive council for quarterly summits to make sure we're holding ourselves accountable to our goals and initiatives throughout the year. This is a fully engaged, all-in, company-wide focus. I encourage you and others to look at our first inaugural ESG report, titled 'Living and Leaving a Positive Legacy for Our World.' It goes through a lot more detail, but we are all in here at Ulta Beauty to make a difference in DNI.
Yeah, those are some great steps and show the commitment that Ulta Beauty has made to this initiative. You've talked about some of the things that you're doing internally and the accountability that you're going to have. My second question is, in terms of the different ways that this investment to advance diversity and inclusion will be evident to consumers, specifically those coming into your stores or visiting Ulta Beauty's digital properties, tell us a little bit about some of the ways they'll be able to tell that this initiative is moving forward.
Yeah, that's a great question, Joe. It's really about being organic in nature. When they walk into stores, do they see a diverse associate base? Do they see marketing, advertising, and brands that reflect our DNI efforts? And do they feel that they're being represented in all of our marketing campaigns? It's not just about the visual aspects, but the feeling, the culture they feel when they walk in the door. I definitely feel that a consumer walking into Ulta Beauty today and in the future will be able to recognize all of those different attributes.
You alluded to the fact that Ulta Beauty has announced that Tracee Ellis Ross will serve as the company's diversity and inclusion advisor. Tell us a little bit about that relationship with Tracee, why she's the right person for this position, and how that appointment aligns with Ulta's core values.
Tracee Ellis Ross is an amazing entrepreneur, beauty leader, activist, actor, and businesswoman. She's multifaceted. We value our partnership with her in regards to the Pattern launch, where we are her exclusive retail brand partner in our stores. What she's going to do for us is provide counsel and insights on specific focuses around BIPOC brand development, diverse leadership development, and supplier diversity. She's going to drive accountability for the company and our executive council because she'll sit on the executive council with the executive leadership team. She brings tremendous respect and knowledge of what it's like to break the glass ceiling within the industry, both from her acting side and her entrepreneurial side. She's so engaged in her own brand launch that she wants to pay it forward and help others be successful. She's a great fit for us at Ulta Beauty.
Not only to your point, she's so engaged with her brand launch that this aligns nicely with her personal brand and the activism she's been known for. Let's shift gears slightly and talk about a specific marketing campaign that Ulta Beauty has launched featuring Black voices in beauty. Can you tell us about that, including how it will be marketed and how you get the word out about this campaign?
Yes. The MUSE campaign is about magnifying, uplifting, supporting, and empowering. It's a platform that celebrates, honors, and amplifies Black voices. It's a beautiful campaign. It initially shines a light on bold and brilliant Black women who have redefined the limits within the marquee of beauty. We've gotten placements with the Today Show, Good Morning America, and This Is Us to highlight them throughout the journey. I could not be more proud of who we initially launched this with. The talent we included were Lisa Price, the founder of Carol's Daughter; Cara Sabin, the CEO of SheaMoisture; Whitney White, the founder of Melanin Hair Care; Nancy Twine, the founder of Briogeo; and Julie Wilson, the beauty director at Cosmopolitan. It's beautiful and empowering. The celebration we've seen internally and externally is something a bit different, and I couldn't be more proud. Another unique aspect is that the bespoke music was composed by two Black artists, and all the work behind the scenes was led by Black leaders from beginning to end.
