Huda Kattan Is Donating $100,000 to Makeup Artists Affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic
Huda Kattan is feeling very overwhelmed right now, and she's sure you are, too. The worldwide effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic are scaring her, especially the financial effects about to be faced by freelance workers in the beauty industry.
While people across the nation are voluntarily quarantining themselves in their homes and practicing social distancing, makeup artists are left with little to no work, considering the hands-on nature of their jobs. So, to help people in the industry financially stay above water during this time, the founder of Huda Beauty has pledged to donate $100,000 to be split between 100 different freelance makeup artists.
Huda announced this effort in a five-minute video posted to Instagram on March 23. "If we get sick or not, everyone is going to be affected financially, and some people are not going to be able to survive that financial impact," she says. "And that’s, for me, the scariest thing right now." Huda then recalls starting Huda Beauty back in 2016 and the financial burden she faced then as a freelance makeup artist trying to make ends meet.
"I couldn’t even pay myself a salary; [my employees] didn't know this, but I had to use some of my influencer deals at the time to pay their salaries because I didn’t want them feeling unstable with their jobs," Huda says. "It is hard to run a business as it is, never mind adding a pandemic to a situation... a lot of people are not going to survive this, point-blank."
Reliving her own experiences of working from freelance gig to gig overwhelmed her to the point that she couldn't wait to announce her donation plan. "I feel so much right now, so I want to do something today," she states in the video. "This is not going to be perfect, but we’re just going to start."
Shortly after posting the video without a game plan, Huda further clarified in her caption how these donations will work. "I want to kick-start the way that we’re giving back by shining a spotlight on some amazing makeup artists and giving cash to some MUAs who may be struggling right now," she writes. "So we’ll be giving away $1,000 USD to 100 of you amazing freelance makeup artists." She then urges her followers to tag a makeup artist who currently needs the money and leave a comment about why they're deserving of a donation. She'll be taking suggestions until March 25 at 12 a.m. Gulf Standard Time. The Huda Beauty team will then randomly select 100 artists to receive donations, a brand representative told Allure.
This won't be the first of Huda's efforts to give back to the beauty industry. According to her video, this is merely a jumpstart. Over the next few days, she will be highlighting small product-driven businesses for her followers to support while she brainstorms other ways to make a big, positive impact on freelance beauty workers because she has "always felt so much responsibility to the beauty industry."
Huda Beauty followed up the video with a statement that reads as follows: "At Huda Beauty, we want our community to know that we're all in this together and we're here to support, inspire, and ease burdens wherever we can. COVID-19 is not only impacting our physical health, but it's negatively affecting us economically, socially, and emotionally. This makeup artist initiative is just the beginning of our journey to help the world and our industry during this unexpectedly challenging time. We hope this gesture offers freelance artists, within the makeup community that we love, a bit of much-needed relief. As a brand, we believe the only way to get through adversity is by acting with kindness and positivity — and we aren’t stopping here. We'll be looking to our community to share suggestions and ideas on how to continue our support efforts. Together we can uplift each other, even during uncertain times."
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
