Barefoot and New Voices Foundation Award Grants to Black-owned Beauty Businesses

MODESTO, Calif., Oct. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Barefoot announces today the six recipients of the #WeStanForHer Barefoot Beauty Grants created in partnership with the New Voices Foundation (NVF), a non-profit dedicated to the advancement of women of color entrepreneurs. Each Barefoot Beauty Grant recipient will receive $10,000 to acknowledge the ways in which they work to highlight the beauty of Black women. The businesses will also receive access to mentorships and business coaching services through New Voices Foundation. 

Barefoot launched the #WeStanForHer platform in July to acknowledge the role beauty routines play in self-care and to promote economic equity for the Black community.

Meet the Barefoot Beauty Grant Recipients:

• Alodia – Maryland-based Alodia is a carefully crafted line of quality, scientifically proven hair care products created by Dr. Isfahan Chambers-Harris, a Biomedical Scientist and Hair Trichologist. Alodia's products are made with natural ingredients that cater to the essential needs of the hair and scalp and encourage and induce the growth of healthier, more beautiful tresses.
• Freedom Apothecary – Pennsylvania-based Freedom Apothecary is a clean beauty retail and wellness space offering a curated selection of beauty, wellness and lifestyle products, all created by female-founded brands. Founded by Morissa Jenkins and Bonkosi Horn, Freedom Apothecary believes in holistic wellness as a means of radial self-care and is passionate about cultivating a community and creating experiences that make people feel radiant inside and out.
• Goddess Beauty Supply – Goddess Beauty Supply, based in Florida, is a beauty supply store whose mission is to build a highly successful, profitable beauty supply store business that will grow from one store to different locations all around key cities in the United States of America.
• Mischo Beauty – D.C.-based Mischo Beauty is a pioneer of clean luxury, offering award-winning, richly-hued and high-performance nail lacquers. Mischo Beauty is committed to its philosophy to do no harm while innovating across the beauty landscape. Founded in 2013, Kitiya King is the first Black woman to launch a 10-free non-toxic, vegan and cruelty-free nail lacquer collection.
• PuffCuff – PuffCuff was conceived in 2013 from a simple idea: create a tool that makes it easy to achieve stylish looks without damaging textured hair or causing pain, yet is sanitary, durable, and affordable. Founded by Ceata Lash and headquartered in Georgia, PuffCuff is the one-stop-tool-shop for textured hair offering over 40 highly sought-after styling tools. From silk bonnets to detangling brushes and a "soon-to-come" line of consumable products, PuffCuff provides customers with everything needed to style textured hair.
• Range Beauty –Founded by Alicia Scott, Georgia-based Range Beauty is clean beauty for the forgotten shades and utilizes botanicals in functional makeup specially formulated for eczema and acne-prone skin.

"At Barefoot, we are committed to doing our part as an ally and advocate to ensure Black women are recognized and supported. As we have seen from the numerous applications we received, there are so many inspiring and much-needed Black women-owned beauty businesses worthy of our support. We hope the Barefoot Beauty Grant will help these deserving businesses continue to grow and thrive," says Shannon Armah, Associate Brand Manager for Barefoot.

"We look forward to having these six beauty companies join the New Voices' vibrant community of women of color entrepreneurs. With access to our unique ecosystem, they will receive unprecedented networking, learning and leadership opportunities to help them grow and scale their businesses," said Richelyna Hall, Chief Impact Officer at the New Voices Foundation.

Last week, Barefoot announced the recipients of the COVID-19 Business Recovery Grant. Twenty-five $1,000 COVID-19 Businesses Recovery Grants were made in support of Black women-owned hair salons affected by shutdowns due to the pandemic. 

In addition to the grant programs, Barefoot recently debuted the We Stan for Her web series. The series stars Jordin Sparks, Ashley Everett and Melissa Butler and centers on the unique beauty experience of Black women in America. In the episode, each woman shares their personal journeys, challenges and wins that will make viewers laugh, relate and, most importantly, learn.

For more information about the Barefoot and New Voices Beauty Business Grant recipients, to watch the web series or for more details about #WeStanForHer, visit https://www.barefootwine.com/we-stan-for-her.

About Barefoot
Barefoot®, the most awarded wine and bubbly brand in U.S. competitions, can be found worldwide bearing the fun and iconic footprint label. Barefoot offers 20 types of still wine available for an SRP of $6 for 750 mL bottles, $11 for 1.5-liter bottles, $19 for Barefoot On Tap 3L Box, and $5 for Barefoot Wine-To-Go. Barefoot Bubbly® sparkling wine offers 11 different styles of bubbly and special packaging collections, with an SRP of $9. Barefoot® also offers wine-based spritzer cans made in a fizzy and light wine style with added hints of fruit flavor. Barefoot Spritzer™ has seven flavors — available in 8.4 oz. cans nationwide, with an SRP $8 for a four-pack and $2 for singles. Barefoot Hard Seltzer comes in 4 flavors and is one of the only wine-based hard seltzers on the market! With only 70 calories per 8.4 oz can, and an SRP of $8 for a four-pack.

About New Voices Foundation
The New Voices Foundation is a ground-breaking, community-building effort designed to create a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem for women of color. The Foundation empowers these entrepreneurs to achieve business success through leadership and skills development, access to capital, and networking opportunities, as well as other innovative leadership initiatives – at no cost to the entrepreneurs. Driven by its PACE (Purpose. Access. Capital. Expertise.) model, the New Voices Foundation invests in diverse programming –including entrepreneurial summits, accelerators, pitch competitions, coaching, master classes, and more –to advance the significant contributions of women of color entrepreneurs to our economy and society.

SOURCE Barefoot; New Voices Foundation