Estée Lauder, flagship brand of The Estée Lauder Companies, has launched the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund (ELEL). The Fund, launched under the Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, aims to redefine leadership by empowering a new generation of women leaders.
It aims to challenge gender stereotypes in leadership by supporting global organisations that help women through leadership development, cultivating supportive communities and advocating for positive change.
Estée Lauder has made an initial US$1 million investment into the ELEL Fund. Vital Voices, a non-profit organisation that supports women leaders, has been chosen as the inaugural grantee.
The programme commences in July 2022 with additional grants to be announced in the coming year.
The Estée Lauder Companies Group President and Estée Lauder & AERIN Beauty Global Brand President Stéphane de La Faverie commented, “The 75-year legacy of the Estée Lauder brand shows what one visionary woman can achieve. Through the work of the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund and its programme partners, we will champion women to contribute and lead in their workplaces and communities. We want to redefine what it means to be a leader and what it takes to lead. We want to see more women like Mrs. Estée Lauder in the world.”
Vital Voices and the ELEL Fund have built a custom online and offline leadership development programme to support emerging women leaders globally. Programme participants will join Vital Voices’ community of over 20,000 women across 180 countries, including Estée Lauder Global Changemaker and Brand Ambassador, poet Amanda Gorman. Applications for the programme are now open via vitalvoices.org.
“At Vital Voices we have seen that women lead differently, and that difference is precisely what our world needs,” commented Vital Voices President and CEO Alyse Nelson.
“Our partnership with the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund will identify emerging leaders with a bold vision for positive change and provide them with the skills, network and resources they need to make that vision a reality.”
Estée Lauder has also commissioned international marketing agency Glocalities for a research study to better understand the relationship between leadership perceptions and gender bias. The study surveyed more than 5,700 men and women across 11 countries, identifying different challenges and solutions to advance gender-inclusivity in the workplace.
The ELEL Fund was inspired by Estée Lauder founder Mrs. Estée Lauder and her commitment to women’s advancement. By shifting leadership perceptions, the fund will address the gender biases uncovered in the research.