Jasmine Glass, founder of Spktrm Beauty, has always been committed to inclusion. In many ways, she says, “The products are really just a vehicle for connecting with people from different communities.”
Spktrm was born from her desire to transform and redefine beauty standards because, Glass says, “Since the beginning of the beauty industry, they've always been very harmful and exclusive. As I've been on this journey, I've realized so many new areas where the industry has been doing the least.”
About eight months ago, she joined forces with a female-led creative agency called Scout Lab. Prior to that, she had been building Spktrm Beauty by herself for about a year and a half. “It was a really exciting moment because with additional creative minds, new resources, new energy, we can obviously expand a lot faster.”
With her new team, Spktrm committed to incorporating braille into its overall branding as a way to actively include blind and low vision customers in her community, and as a way to get people thinking about inclusivity. Said Glass, “The visually impaired community have been left out of a lot of important conversations in beauty, so we were really excited to connect with consultants at the American Foundation for the Blind and Bold Blind Beauty to learn more about this perspective.” That commitment to inclusivity can be seen in the range of nude lipsticks Spktrm now offers, as well as a skin-tone matching technology for visually impaired customers who want help in finding their ideal match.
“I looped in this incredible woman who is Spktrm's technology partner, Atima Lui,” Glass said. “A lot of technology on the market now does not properly read black skin. So we had some conversations with Atima and Bold Blind Beauty about how her skin-tone matching technology could be very helpful for customers who are blind or low vision, and we’re applying their suggestions and feedback.”
Glass also hopes that by showing what a self-funded startup with limited resources can do to bring braille labels to market, it's going to put pressure on brands that have more resources to step up to the challenge. “Because if we can do it, so can you.”
