The 21Ninety Awards were created to celebrate the innovators reshaping our world. These are women who pour themselves into businesses that uplift, empower, and center Black women. Across Wellness, Lifestyle, and Beauty, we’re honoring the brilliant minds often overlooked, placing their vision and impact firmly in the spotlight.
In the Beauty category, three trailblazing founders have been named Beauty Innovator of the Year. Each has stepped into uncharted territory, filling gaps the industry ignored and daring to create what they once wished existed. From plant-based hair care to products designed for the tightest coils, these women are redefining beauty and changing the game for us all.
First Place Winner: Rebundle
Protective styles like braids are a staple for Black women, but a recent Consumer Reports investigation revealed alarming levels of carcinogens and even lead in popular synthetic braiding hair brands. For many, the irritation and health risks have been tolerated simply because safer options didn’t exist. Ciara Imani May helped change that reality.
May is the genius behind Rebundle, the first U.S.-patented braiding hair made from discarded banana stems. In doing so she created sustainable, non-toxic hair.
“I recognized that the materials used in plastic and synthetic hair were harmful to our bodies and the environment. Countless other women and I who suffer from scalp irritation needed an alternative,” May shared. “I saw some YouTube videos of women in Kenya and Uganda using pineapple and banana fiber for their braiding hair, but you couldn’t go online and buy them.”
Her solution was simple yet groundbreaking: sustainable, non-toxic bundles that are as stylish as they are safe. Rebundle proves that Black women deserve beauty without compromise.
Second Place Winner: MICHE Beauty
MICHE Beauty is a trailblazer when it comes to plant-based and non-toxic products. Founded alongside husband Jonathan Ballard in 2016, Michelle Ballard was determined to simplify haircare by any means necessary. As a content creator documenting her natural hair journey online, she knew what the hair industry was lacking. Ballard felt compelled to provide it. MICHE Beauty products do not compromise on being inclusive of hair diversity. The brand manages to provide simple and clean ingredients and undeniable results.
Products like the Anti-Humidity Firm Hold Hair Gel, made completely free of silicones, sulfates, parabens, drying alcohols, mineral oils, petroleum, and phthalates, stand as one of their best-sellers. With an unwavering commitment to quality and inclusivity, MICHE Beauty deserves all the praise.
Third Place Winner: OurX
Sometimes, the best business ideas are bred from anger over lack of representation. As a Black businesswoman, Ceci Kurzman found herself immensely frustrated by the industry’s inability to include the textured hair market in its advances. Bringing science and diversity into beauty, she founded OurX, a hair care line built on the pillars of personalization, expert guidance, and data-informed product development.
The brand combines the knowledge of stylists, curl educators, and board-certified dermatologists. OurX offers a hair assessment quiz that aligns customers with a distinct hair care plans. They also receive around-the-clock expert support to accompany them on their journey. With sustainability and inclusivity in mind, OurX aims to completely reinvent hair and scalp wellness for the tightest coils, which are typically the most industry-overlooked.
About the Awards
In their own unique and individual ways, each of these 2025 21Ninety Award Beauty Innovator Winners brought something new and crucial to the industry. They filled voids and championed the change they wanted to see, all while staying true to their mission statements.
This year’s 21Ninety Awards shifted from product-based categories to people-focused recognition. Instead of highlighting only what we use, the awards celebrate the women shaping beauty, wellness, and lifestyle culture from within.
Winners were selected for their impact on their audiences, their ability to create space and community, and their dedication to representation. We also looked at innovation, consistency, and cultural influence. Above all, nominees had to reflect 21Ninety’s mission of empowering Black women through beauty, wellness, and lifestyle.
This approach ensures that changemakers, community builders, and unsung heroes get the spotlight for the impact they make every day.