Sharon Chuter, the Nigerian born beauty executive who founded Uoma Beauty and helped force an industry reckoning on corporate diversity, has died at 38. She was found unresponsive on a patio on Aug. 14 in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, which listed the cause of death as “deferred” pending further investigation, according to People.
Chuter launched Uoma Beauty in April 2019 with 51 foundation shades and a mission of radical inclusivity. The brand drew on early career posts at major beauty houses and a now famous teenage pitch to Revlon to distribute its products in Nigeria. Her activism vaulted her into the spotlight in 2020, when she created Pull Up For Change and the #PullUpOrShutUp campaign, urging brands to disclose the share of Black employees in their corporate ranks, as first covered by Allure.
A brand in flux
Chuter stepped down as Uoma’s CEO in late May 2023 after a health scare, saying she needed to reset her work life balance. Cyndi Isgrig, a veteran beauty executive and former Dermstore president, was named interim chief, according to trade outlets Cosmetics Business and Happi. By that summer, the brand went largely silent on social media as customers complained of unfulfilled orders. The Business of Fashion later chronicled the pullback and consumer frustrations
In December 2023, private equity affiliate MacArthur Beauty purchased Uoma’s name, trademark and intellectual property in a private sale, saying it intended to stabilize the business, according to The Business of Fashion. Retail Dive separately confirmed the deal with MacArthur Beauty’s managing partner.
The legal fight
On Feb. 25, 2025, Chuter filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against MacArthur Beauty, BrainTrust Fund and Settle Funding, alleging the December 2023 transaction was an unauthorized, below market sale conducted to satisfy a $6.2 million loan despite prior, higher valuations; the complaint asserts claims including fraudulent transfer and unjust enrichment. The defendants have disputed her allegations; the case remained pending at the time of her death, according to The Business of Fashion and court coverage summarized by Allure.
A movement that changed an industry
Beyond the product, Chuter’s imprint on beauty was outsized. Dozens of brands quickly responded to Pull Up For Change’s 2020 transparency push, helping make workforce disclosure a new norm, as reported by Allure and Teen Vogue. She later relaunched the Make It Black initiative to raise capital for Black founders and challenge negative linguistic associations with the word “black,” Vogue Business reported.
Chuter also spoke to a broader truth the industry still contends with: Black women drive genuine innovation and originality, a culture that too often gets treated as a commodity by those with capital. Her work insisted that authorship be met with ownership and credit, not extraction. (Analysis informed by her campaigns and industry response).
What her death means now
Chuter’s passing comes amid an unresolved ownership dispute and a delicate rebuild of Uoma under new leadership. For Black women founders, her story underscores both the opportunity to transform industries and the structural risks that can surface in venture backed growth, from governance shifts to distressed asset sales, especially when a brand’s identity is inseparable from its founder’s voice. As the investigation into her death continues and the lawsuit proceeds, the questions she raised about power, transparency and inclusion in beauty feel only more urgent, recent coverage in The Business of Fashion and People suggests.
Editor’s note: Allegations described above are drawn from court filings and have not been adjudicated. Reporting cited includes People, The Business of Fashion, Allure, Retail Dive, Vogue Business, Cosmetics Business, Happi, and Teen Vogue.
