WarnerMedia Partners With Black Beauty Roster To Advance Diversity In Its Hair & Makeup Departments

WarnerMedia is partnering with the Black Beauty Roster platform for diverse hair and makeup education, talent, and advocacy, to expand the presence of emerging and diverse beauty professionals on its upcoming slate of film and TV productions.

Black Beauty Roster provides educational resources to help on-set staff learn the nuances of working with textured hair and darker complexions and how to be better advocates for talent of color. The company will now provide hair and makeup staffing support for WarnerMedia productions via its network of over 10,000 union and non-union beauty professionals, across the U.S. and Canada. Its partnership with the conglomerate will also involve workshops targeted towards executives and decision makers on allyship and advocacy, as well as panel discussions focused on diversity behind the camera.

“We’ve listened to the needs of our talent and creative communities’ desire to access beauty professionals who will help them continue to create best in class content while delivering an equitable and intentional experience. We acknowledge that not everyone is the same, and the needs of our talent to do their best work is paramount,” said Yvette Urbina, who serves as Vice President, Equity + Inclusion, Pipeline and Content, at WarnerMedia. “We’re thrilled to partner with BBR, a company that shares our commitment to championing underrepresented artists and inclusive environments to increase access across the industry.”

“As we continue to see more diverse talent in front of the camera, we have to ensure we are diversifying behind the camera as well — especially with hair and makeup. We’ve seen and heard of too many on-set hair and makeup horror stories from talent of color and it’s time we change the narrative,” said Black Beauty Roster co-founder Simone Tetteh. “We’re thrilled WarnerMedia wants to partner with us to not only diversify the industry but lead the charge by changing it for the better.”

“This is a step in the right direction and it is great to see Black Beauty Roster and WarnerMedia working together to bring solutions to hair and makeup needs on set and more opportunity into the industry,” added celebrity hairstylist and BBR Leadership Council member Kim Kimble.

WarnerMedia is a media and entertainment company that creates and distributes premium and popular content through its consumer brands including HBO, HBO Now, HBO Max, Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC Entertainment, New Line, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Turner Classic Movies, among others.

Other leading hair and makeup professionals serving on BBR’s leadership council include Sir John, Vernon Francois and Larry Sims. More information on the platform can be found here.