The Glossy 50 honors the year’s biggest changemakers across fashion and beauty. More from the series →
When Fenty Beauty by Rihanna launched in 2017 with 40 shades of foundation, it created an inclusion revolution — and the brand has showed no signs of slowing. To wit: In 2023, Fenty Beauty was the top-selling celebrity beauty brand, with $602.4 million in annual revenue.
The line has successfully maintained its “beauty for all” mission, even adding 10 shades of foundation since its launch. It also debuted Fenty Skin and fragrance in 2020 and 2021, respectively. And in June, it debuted Fenty Hair. But that doesn’t mean expanding the Fenty world is easy.
“One of the biggest challenges [of the year] was just the pressure of launching the fourth brand into the Fenty universe and needing to come with a perspective that was really meaningful to the customer and super impactful and revolutionary, just as our other categories have been,” said Sukiana Chancy, vp of brand management and global marketing at Fenty Hair.
That’s one reason why Rihanna, and the team at parent company Kendo Brands, brought in Chancy two years ahead of Fenty Hair’s launch. The New York-based marketing pro’s CV includes executive and director roles at Henkel-owned DevaCurl and Estée Lauder Companies-owned Bumble & bumble, as well as Cay Skin and Elizabeth Arden.
“Rihanna’s mission of wanting to [cater to] all hair types in the hair-care category is very unique,” said Chancy. “It’s so personal. It’s also a tall order to actually be for everyone and for everyone to truly believe that.”
To do so, Chancy leaned into the science, which had been in development for more than two years before she joined, and worked to translate the varied benefits for the Fenty shopper. The nine SKUs — which span shampoo, conditioner, treatment and styling products, each priced between $16-$29 — were developed and tested to work on all hair types and textures, albeit with slightly different use cases. For example, textured hair may benefit from the deep conditioner more often than fine hair, but it has a place in both routines.
Patience during the product seeding process allowed UGC to become a key revenue, awareness and traffic driver, Chancy said. “People want to use hair products many times before talking about it,” she said. It was timed well: Fenty Hair was the No. 1 hair-care brand on Instagram during its launch in June 2024, based on total engagement rate and total number of engagements, and it held the spot again in September when the brand entered Sephora, according to market research company Mintoiro and Dash Hudson, respectively.
Fenty Hair launched direct-to-consumer in June, and, thanks to the resulting fanfare, the brand expanded into Sephora starting in September. Sephora has been home to Fenty products and, according to Chancy, will be the pathway toward growth in 2025.
“I’m constantly in a Sephora shopping for myself, but also peeking at our shelves and lurking in the corner looking at people looking at our shelves,” Chancy told Glossy. “It’s so gratifying to see people touch and feel and smell and then walk away with the product. … It’s become one of my favorite pastimes.”
