Black Beauty Royalty Gets Their Flowers At 2nd…
Black magnificence took heart stage as the Bronner Bros. Beauty Icon Awards returned to Atlanta for a second yr of celebrating excellence, innovation, and affect. The star-studded ceremony spotlighted the trailblazing visionaries, entrepreneurs, and artists who have reshaped the sweetness industry, damaged obstacles, and paved the way in which for the next era of magnificence innovators.
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
The 2nd Annual Bronner Bros. Beauty Icon Awards passed off at the Riverside EpiCenter in Atlanta, bringing together influential names in magnificence, fashion, sports activities, and leisure.
BOSSIP’s very own Lauryn Bass was on the scene as the night unfolded under the theme “Midnight Bloom,” remodeling the celebration into an enchanted garden where fantasy, artistry, and Black excellence got here to life.
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
With Bronner Bros. approaching its historic eightieth anniversary, the ceremony celebrated the legacy of Black magnificence entrepreneurship and the people persevering with to redefine illustration, possession and innovation across the industry. This yr’s honorees included:
Topicals founder Olamide Olowe
Carol’s Daughter founder Lisa Price
Celebrity make-up artist Derrick Rutledge
Former WNBA participant and fashion persona Sydney Carter
and a number of other industry leaders.
The celebration adopted last yr’s inaugural ceremony, which honored Chaka Khan, Danessa Myricks, Jesseca “Judy” Harris-Dupart, the late George E. Johnson, and celeb hairstylist Terrence Davidson.
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
An Enchanted Garden Where Beauty Comes To Life
The night started with a contact of fantasy as company had been launched to a particular giveaway sponsored by AmaWaterways. Inspired by the golden-ticket pleasure of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” attendees had been inspired to verify beneath their seats for a likelihood to win a river cruise expertise, with a legitimate passport required for eligibility.
One fortunate lady seated in the center part found a successful ticket, including an sudden second of pleasure before the show really began.
The opening manufacturing, titled “An Enchanted Garden,” introduced the night’s theme to life through elaborate costumes, placing textures and cool-toned designs impressed by wildlife. Performers embodied the sweetness of peacocks, lions, snakes, and other creatures, presenting an imaginative interpretation of nature through fashion and motion.
James Bronner addressed the viewers following the presentation, reflecting on the company’s longstanding dedication to the industry.
“For nearly 80 years, Bronner Brothers has believed in the power of the beauty industry,” Bronner said.
Pastor Bronner later provided a prayer encouraging attendees to search God’s steerage regardless of their place or affect, with the theme of being in the “right spot.”
The night’s returning host acknowledged the viewers as a reflection of the American dream, referencing magnificence pioneer Madam C.J. Walker and the generations of Black entrepreneurs who challenged stereotypes and created alternatives through the sweetness industry.
Atlanta was also celebrated as a magnificence mecca, highlighting town’s continued affect on the tradition.
Kelly Keith, Executive Producer of the Bronner Bros. Beauty Icon Awards, acquired a standing ovation before welcoming company and acknowledging the challenges of producing the celebration amid tough climate situations. She expressed gratitude to those who attended despite the circumstances.
Olamide Olowe Reflects On Defying The Odds As A Young Beauty Entrepreneur
The first group of honorees mirrored the industry’s evolving definition of magnificence, affect and entrepreneurship.
Camille Rose founder Janell Stephens and Jelisa Semore helped introduce Topicals founder Olamide Ayomikun Olowe, who acquired the Vanguard of Beauty Award.
In her acceptance speech, Olowe mirrored on the skepticism she confronted while raising capital for her company at 23.
“When I raised $2 million in 2020 when I was 23, so many people said I couldn’t do it,” Olowe recalled. “So many people said, ‘Why trust a young woman straight out of college without much money?’ But I knew that my community needed me.”
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
Her remarks highlighted the willpower required to pursue entrepreneurship while difficult expectations surrounding age, gender, and access to financial alternatives.
The ceremony also acknowledged celeb photographer Derek Blanks, with each honoree receiving a personalised video presentation highlighting their skilled achievements, personal journeys, and contributions to the sweetness industry.
Sydney Carter Celebrates Individuality As Eco Style Continues Its Defy Definition Campaign
Former WNBA participant, coach and fashion persona Sydney Carter was among the night’s celebrated honorees, receiving the Style & Culture Award for her affect at the intersection of sports activities, fashion and magnificence.
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
During her acceptance speech, Carter mirrored on the significance of embracing individuality slightly than conforming to expectations.
“God created me not to fit in. He created me to stand out,” Carter said.
She concluded her remarks with a message handed down from her mom.
“It’s not on you. It’s in you.”
Her recognition also marked another vital second in her partnership with Eco Style, the longtime hair styling model that joined fellow magnificence industry leaders, founders and creatives at the Oct. 10 ceremony.
In September, Carter starred in Eco Style’s Defy Definition marketing campaign, an initiative celebrating people who problem expectations and categorical themselves without being confined to conventional labels.
Eco Style
Eco Style
Eco Style
Eco Style
The partnership brings together Carter’s athletic background, fashion affect, and distinctive personal fashion, making her a natural consultant of the marketing campaign’s message.
For Eco Style, the collaboration displays the model’s next chapter and its continued investment in cultural storytelling past the sweetness aisle.
Carter’s recognition at the Bronner Bros. Beauty Icon Awards additional emphasised that relationship, celebrating a lady whose affect extends from the basketball court to fashion and magnificence.
As Eco Style continues its Defy Definition marketing campaign, the model is encouraging a broader dialog about personal fashion, self-expression and the freedom to show up authentically without feeling restricted by expectations.
Spelman College Champions The Next Generation Of Black Beauty Innovators
One of the night’s recurring messages was that magnificence extends past bodily look. It is a cultural expertise formed by household, id, group, and the freedom to categorical oneself.
Keith launched a presentation titled “The Power of Beauty,” that includes an AI-generated montage of a younger woman visiting a magnificence salon with her mom. Through narration and imagery, the manufacturing explored a youngster’s earliest reminiscences of magnificence and the affect of the ladies around her.
The ceremony also acknowledged Spelman College’s Cosmetic Science Program, celebrating its enlargement and dedication to getting ready Black girls for management roles in the sweetness industry.
Eco Style’s Vice President of Innovation, Asha Harris, joined beauty scientist Angela Ellington to current the respect on behalf of the model, highlighting the significance of schooling, scientific development and creating alternatives for the next era of magnificence innovators.
The presentation additional mirrored Eco Style’s investment in the future of the industry, extending its involvement in the night past its celebration of Style & Culture Award recipient Sydney Carter.
Dr. Leyte Winfield, director of Spelman’s Cosmetic Science Program, emphasised the significance of creating alternatives for Black girls to turn into researchers, innovators, and decision-makers within an industry they’ve traditionally helped form.
“We created this because we understood that we needed to empower Black women to be the innovators and the experts in this beauty industry,” Winfield said.
She also addressed the dearth of recognition Black girls scientists often obtain despite their contributions to research and innovation.
“We’re in a moment where Black women in STEM are considered the invisible scientists,” she said.
Her remarks strengthened the significance of making certain Black girls have alternatives not only to affect magnificence trends but also to develop merchandise, conduct research, and lead the businesses shaping the industry’s future.
Through its participation in both Carter’s recognition and Spelman’s honor, Eco Style helped highlight two complementary forces shaping the next era of magnificence: individuality and innovation.
Oprah Winfrey Celebrates Derrick Rutledge As Beauty Icons Enter The Hall Of Fame
Celebrity make-up artist Derrick Rutledge acquired the Beauty Artistry Award following a particular video introduction that includes Oprah Winfrey, who acknowledged their longtime skilled relationship.
The tribute also featured appearances from Yolanda Adams, Vivica A. Fox, and more celeb buddies and supporters, reflecting Rutledge’s affect and relationships throughout leisure.
Actor Taylor Polidore Williams of Netflix’s “Beauty in Black” and Grammy-winning singer Anthony Hamilton introduced Rutledge with his award.
During his acceptance speech, Rutledge emphasised the significance of collaboration and the people who contribute to an particular person’s success.
“No one can achieve greatness alone,” he said.
The celebration continued with the induction of a number of industry figures into the Bronner Bros. Hall of Fame, including Brittanica Stewart, Patrick Bradley, Jamahl King and Michelina Barber.
Stewart used her second to encourage households to affirm the potential of their kids.
“We don’t tell our children that they’re great enough. Take the time to tell your children that they are great,” she said.
Bradley mirrored on the on a regular basis affect of magnificence merchandise and the industry’s cultural significance.
“Everyone in here had to put on some lipstick or chapstick or put on something to get where they’re going. Beauty is amazing, and we have to keep this thing going,” he said.
The ceremony also paid tribute to the late George E. Johnson, a pioneering magnificence entrepreneur who was acknowledged during the inaugural awards in 2025 before his death in 2026.
Attendees noticed a second of silence in his honor.
Beyond established industry leaders, Bronner Bros. acknowledged rising expertise from a pupil hair competitors held earlier that day. The top three opponents had been celebrated, with the first-place winner representing Atlanta Technical College and third-place recognition going to college students from an Arkansas magnificence faculty.
BOSSIP completely spoke with Dominique Akins of Peaky’s Cosmetology for the Culture, who traveled from Arkansas with her college students to take part in the competitors.
When requested what it meant to obtain recognition in Atlanta, Akins mirrored on the collective effort that made the expertise potential.
“It means everything. We worked so hard,” Akins said. “My school, my students, and the community also helped us. We fundraise. So none of the students that traveled with us had to pay anything tonight. It is such an honor and I’m glad to be here.”
Another presentation explored the many environments in which Black ladies and girls expertise magnificence. Models showcased appears that ranged from sports activities and motherhood to skilled areas and worldwide communities, including Lagos.
Lisa Price And Cornell McBride Sr. Reflect On Building Black Beauty Empires
The celebration of entrepreneurship continued when rapper Da Brat launched Lisa Price, founder of Carol’s Daughter, as the recipient of the Trailblazer in Beauty Business Award.
Price, whose company helped broaden the visibility of merchandise designed for textured hair, inspired the viewers to protect the narratives behind Black magnificence entrepreneurship.
“Please continue to tell our stories,” she said.
Her remarks strengthened the significance of documenting the accomplishments of the people who helped form an industry that has not always acknowledged their contributions.
The program then traveled back to the Nineteen Nineties through a nostalgic presentation celebrating the period’s magnificence trends and regional influences.
Dubbed “90s Fine,” the section highlighted kinds related with California, New York and Miami. Salon chairs remodeled the stage into a acquainted beauty-shop setting, paying tribute to the areas where Black hair tradition and group have long intersected.
Sharita Cherry, an honoree from the earlier yr, launched Cornell McBride Sr., founder of Design Essentials, who acquired the Titan of Beauty Business Award.
McBride mirrored on his transition from pharmacy into the sweetness industry, explaining how he developed Stay-Sof-Fro and launched the product at a Bronner Bros. show to gain visibility.
After spending 18 years building the product before promoting it, McBride finally returned to entrepreneurship with Design Essentials.
“Building your business, you gotta really love this thing. You’re going to change and grow in the process,” he told attendees.
Now retired, McBride expressed gratitude for the chance to construct a lasting legacy in the industry.
His son, Cornell McBride Jr., who at the moment leads the company, also provided perspective on the relationships required to maintain a business over a number of many years.
“This company is 35 years old and the people who are there to help you in your 1st year as a business are going to be different and not the same as the ones who are there when your company is at 35 years,” he said.
The ceremony also celebrated 30 years of ORS and Namaste Laboratories, with Dr. Stacy J. Johnson introducing a tribute recognizing the manufacturers’ contributions to the sweetness industry.
Xia Charles, Bryant “Big intimacyy” Bee And Germaine Bolds-Leftridge Close Out The Honors
As the night continued, celeb hairstylist Cliff Vmir launched Xia Charles, a hairstylist and braider whose journey to entrepreneurship started after arriving in the United States from the Caribbean 9 years in the past, figuring out only 5 people.
Charles mirrored on the braveness required to flip personal expertise into skilled alternative.
“Having a gift is one thing but having the courage is another,” she said.
The Culture Mover Award was introduced to Bryant “Big intimacyy” Bee by Kie Fair and Karlie Redd, recognizing her affect within magnificence and tradition.
Actress Jasmine Burke, who portrays June on CBS’ “Beyond the Gates,” introduced the ultimate award of the night to Germaine Bolds-Leftridge, who acquired the Architect of Multicultural Beauty Award.
Throughout the night time, attendees had been also launched to “Love Patrick, Nothing Is Impossible,” a movie project from PeachSoul Productions exploring the life and legacy of iconic fashion designer Patrick Kelly and his contributions to fashion and magnificence.
Black Beauty’s Legacy Continues To Bloom
Nearly 80 years into its legacy, Bronner Bros. continues to rejoice an industry that has always been about more than trying good. For generations, Black magnificence has created alternatives for entrepreneurship, creative expression and group, often in areas where those alternatives had been in any other case restricted.
That historical past made the night’s celebration of rising expertise just as significant as its recognition of established icons. From Eco Style championing Sydney Carter’s unapologetic individuality through its Defy Definition marketing campaign to becoming a member of the popularity of Spelman’s next era of beauty scientists, the night time demonstrated how magnificence’s cultural affect and its future innovations can flourish together.
The same spirit related the tales shared across the stage. Each honoree represented a different chapter of an industry constructed on creativity, conviction, and the braveness to make room for one thing new.
As another class of icons acquired their flowers, the importance of “Midnight Bloom” turned even more becoming. The night was not merely about celebrating how far Black magnificence has come, but recognizing the people, potentialities, and legacies still ready to blossom.
Paras Griffin
Paras Griffin
Paras Griffin
Paras Griffin
Paras Griffin
Paras Griffin
Eco Style
Paras Griffin
Paras Griffin
Paras Griffin
Paras Griffin
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