Beauty should always be diverse, accessible, and inclusive. Too often, it has taken women who’ve experienced the sting of exclusion to lead the charge in reshaping the industry. The 2025 21Ninety Awards were created to honor those very women. They are the visionaries who turn lived experience into a mission and build change that impacts us all.
Across Wellness, Lifestyle, and Beauty, each category spotlights three honorees who embody passion, perseverance, and purpose.Within the Beauty category, three trailblazing women have been recognized with the Most Inclusive Makeup Brand award. Their work goes beyond products. They have rewritten beauty standards and corrected the lack of representation they once faced themselves. These brands are not just building businesses. They’re making history.
First Place Winner: Fenty Beauty
Rihanna may have pressed pause on music, but her influence has only deepened through Fenty Beauty. Since its launch, the brand has been celebrated as a fierce innovator, setting a new industry standard for inclusivity across shades and skin tones. From the start, Rihanna made her mission clear: Fenty Beauty would be guided by the all-embracing mantra of “Beauty For All.” Debuting in 2017, the line quickly produced best-sellers. Those include tinted moisturizers, contour sticks and nude glosses designed with Black women at the center. As Rihanna explained in an interview with TIME, the goal was simple yet revolutionary: “that every woman felt included in this brand.”
Second Place Winner: Juvia’s Place
Growing up in Nigeria, Chichi Eburu suffered an immense amount of disappointment after moving to the states and failing to see women with deeper and richer skin tones represented in beauty media. With two young children and only $2,000 at her disposal, she launched Juvia’s Place in 2016 in hopes of offering what she felt the industry lacked for Black women.
Juvia’s Place has gone on to be immensely successful and globally recognized, all while staying true to its mission. Its palettes, foundations, highlighters and lipsticks are all made with dark skin tones in mind, packaged in art that bows to African culture. For those who once struggled to find shades that were tonally accurate, Juvia’s Place has completely changed the game for Black women.
Third Place Winner: PAT MCGRATH LABS
Named the most influential makeup artist in the world by Vogue, British Jamaican “Mother of Makeup” Pat McGrath has done monumental work for the beauty industry. She spearheaded editorial and runway looks that amplify Black beauty. McGrath is also the genius behind a makeup line that is completely devoted to Black identity.
From vibrant palettes and eye shadows to foundations offered in 36 shades, everything that PAT MCGRATH LABS offers is designed to accentuate the full range of Black beauty. As an award-winning beauty brand, it’s known for its innovative essentials and undeniable versatility.
About the Awards
With an unwavering commitment to centering their communities, each of these 2025 21Ninety Award Beauty Most Inclusive Makeup Brands winners filled a necessary void in the industry and found immense success while staying true to their craft.
For this year’s 21Ninety Awards, the focus shifted in a powerful way. Instead of centering broad product categories, the awards have been reimagined to highlight the people shaping beauty, wellness, and lifestyle culture from within. This pivot is about honoring the hands, hearts, and creativity that often go unseen but make a lasting impact in our communities.
When selecting winners, we looked at the influence each nominee has on their audience, their ability to create space and build community, and their dedication to representation. We also considered how innovative their approach has been—or how consistently they’ve shown up over time—and the cultural waves they’ve made along the way. Above all, we wanted to spotlight individuals whose work aligns with 21Ninety’s mission of empowering Black women through beauty, wellness, and lifestyle.
This shift toward people-focused recognition ensures that the changemakers, community builders, and unsung heroes behind the culture are celebrated for the impact they make every day.