The Black Beauty Club Beauty Vanguard 50 List Is Here

For nearly six years, The Black Beauty Club has championed Black beauty culture. Founded by Tomi Talabi, the platform has become a vital connector for founders, creators, and industry leaders through intentional programming and powerful storytelling.

Now, the organization is expanding its mission with the launch of its inaugural Beauty Vanguard 50 list. The honor spotlights 50 influential innovators, tastemakers, and cultural drivers shaping beauty, fashion, tech, wellness, and culture. To mark the milestone, a special dinner and awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, February 26.

“Beauty Vanguard 50 came from a gap we’ve been seeing consistently: Black beauty continues to set the pace for mainstream aesthetics, but the authorship is too often diluted, misattributed, or flattened into trend coverage,” Talabi says. “I wanted to build a permanent cultural record that names who is actually setting direction, and to do it in a way that reflects how influence is built today across platforms, product, media, art, and commerce.”

The list is organized around five pillars—Canon Builders, Culture Architects, Culture Drivers, Image Makers, and New Vanguard—and Talabi and her team selected each honoree with great care. “We built BV50 with an editorial process grounded in how power moves in beauty today,” Talabi adds. “We developed a rubric centered on impact, originality, cultural velocity, and structural contribution. We looked at who is changing the baseline, who is building durable platforms or systems, and whose work is shaping both aesthetic language and commercial outcomes.” 

Beyond giving changemakers their well-deserved flowers in the moment, Talabi hopes that the Beauty Vanguard 50 becomes a roadmap that helps brands, media, and institutions recognize builders earlier. “Year over year, BV50 becomes an archive you can reference to track how beauty is evolving and who has been moving it, across every lane where standards are set, not just the most visible ones,” she explains.

New Vanguard Award recipient Golloria George, the trailblazing influencer who has consistently pushed for greater inclusivity in beauty, truly exemplifies what the list stands for. “I’m genuinely happy that Beauty Vanguard 50 recognizes my contribution to the culture because I don’t just create beauty content. I’m reshaping who gets centered when beauty is taught,” she says.

Ahead, browse through the entire list of Beauty Vanguard 50 honorees.

Canon Builders

Halle Berry
Katori Hall
Julee Wilson
Lubaina Himid
Ryan Coogler
Sir John
Tina Knowles
Toyin Ojih Odutola
Tracee Ellis Ross
Zinzi Coogler

Culture Architects

Afua Hirsch
Amira Virgil
Brooke Devard
Chioma Nnadi
Funmi Fetto
Jessica Cruel
Nikki Ogunnaike
Sharmadean Reid
Tokini Peterside

Culture Drivers

Allyiahs Face
IShowSpeed
Jouelzy
Kai Cenat
Kehlani
Lauren Lorosa
Mara Brock Akil
Skylar Marshai
Sochi Mbadugha
Uche Natori

Image Makers

Bernicia Boateng
Bukunmi Grace
Dana Scruggs
Daniel Obasi
Dawn Sterling
IB Kamara
Ike Edeani
Jawara Wachope
Nadine Ijewere
Naeemah LaFond
Tasha Reiko-Brown

New Vanguard

Anok Yai
Awar Odhiang
Eni Popoola
Golloria George
Hannah Traore
Kennedi Carter
Simi Muhumuza
Tolu Coye
Toni Bravo