80 Years of Beauty, Purpose, and Progress
Company Feature, Oct 28, 2026
As featured in The Estée Lauder Companies FY26 Social Impact and Sustainability report, published October 28, 2026.
The Estée Lauder Companies began with one woman who believed in the infinite possibilities that emerge when women have the confidence and opportunity to pursue their ambitions.
Eighty years ago, Mrs. Estée Lauder challenged expectations and helped reshape the beauty industry as she built a beauty empire centered on women’s lives, needs, and aspirations. Her entrepreneurial spirit remains an important part of our company today, which continues to be shaped by and serve women around the world.
Over the decades, that legacy has inspired us to continue supporting programs and partners that advance women’s and girls’ health, education, and entrepreneurship. No single organization can address the complex challenges facing women and girls. Advancing meaningful progress depends on listening, learning, and working together over time—with nonprofit organizations that bring deep expertise and trusted relationships, our employees and brands that contribute their time and platforms, and women and girls who are creating change within their own lives and communities.
In fiscal 2026, The Estée Lauder Companies continued to build on this approach, particularly through our commitment to make $50 million in social investments by 2030 to support women and girls globally across three areas closely connected to the company’s history and purpose: health, education, and entrepreneurship.
(L to R): Yolonda Marshall, CEO, Student Leadership Network; Alyse Nelson, President & CEO, Vital Voices Global Partnership; Donna McKay, President & CEO, Breast Cancer Research Foundation; and Nancy Mahon, Chief Sustainability Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies, at The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation’s Purpose Week flagship event.
Helping Bring Greater Attention to Women’s Health
For more than three decades, the company’s Breast Cancer Campaign has worked alongside organizations around the world to support research, education, medical services, and access to care.
What began with a pink ribbon and Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder’s vision for a breast cancer-free world has grown into a global movement, with more than $167 million funded for lifesaving research, education, and medical services around the world, including more than $131 million to fund medical research through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Across the company’s portfolio, our brands also work with organizations responding to the needs of their communities. For instance, M·A·C VIVA GLAM has raised over $545 million for charity since its launch in 1994—more than any other beauty brand globally—to support partners advancing equality and healthy futures for all.
These efforts are just one part of a much larger movement to help women feel informed, supported, and empowered to advocate for their health.
Awardees of the 2025 Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund Beautiful Forces Grants with William P. Lauder, Chairman of the Board of The Estée Lauder Companies, Stéphane de La Faverie, President & CEO of The Estée Lauder Companies, Paulina Porizkova, Estée Lauder Global Brand Ambassador, and Alyse Nelson, President & CEO of Vital Voices.
Expanding Possibilities Through Education
For many girls and young women, the path forward can be shaped by access to a supportive teacher, a trusted mentor, practical skills training, or the resources to continue their studies.
The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation (ELCCF) works with nonprofit partners that understand the distinct needs of the communities they serve. These organizations design and lead programs that help girls and young women pursue their education, prepare for workforces, strengthen their leadership skills, and build confidence in their own abilities.
Through long-standing partnerships with organizations including Pratham in India, the Student Leadership Network and The Young Women’s Leadership Schools in the United States, and Unibes in Brazil, ELCCF supports young women and girls through academic programs, vocational training, mentorship, and college and career readiness.
Our brands contribute to this shared work as well. Through the Bobbi Brown Pretty Powerful Fund, nonprofit organizations around the world that focus on women’s and girls’ education and economic empowerment receive support for their programs.
The company, its Charitable Foundation, and its portfolio of brands are honored to partner with organizations who are creating meaningful change in the lives of women and girls around the world.
Khanak Gupta, Co-Founder & CEO of Sohrai Beauty and Winner of the Visionary Women’s Award with Nadine Graf, President of EMEA, UK & Ireland, and Emerging Markets at The Estée Lauder Companies at the BEAUTY&YOU India 2025 Awards in Mumbai.
Supporting Women with Bold Ideas
Entrepreneurship has been central to The Estée Lauder Companies’ story since its founding. Mrs. Estée Lauder pursued her vision with persistence and creativity, listening closely to women and building trusted relationships seeking to support not just their beauty routines, but also their lives.
Today, women entrepreneurs around the world are bringing that same determination to their own ideas. They are identifying unmet needs, developing new products and services, creating jobs, and finding solutions grounded in their communities and cultures.
BEAUTY&YOU India, for example, was created in 2022 by the company to discover and support the next generation of Indian beauty entrepreneurs. Over 80% of 2025 applicants included at least one woman founder, a testament to the dynamism and creativity of women entrepreneurs. The 2025 program also debuted the BEAUTY&YOU Visionary Women’s Award. Inspired by The Estée Lauder Companies’ legacy as a beauty company founded by a trailblazing woman, this new jury prize, presented with Startup India, recognized the innovation and impact of an outstanding woman entrepreneur.
The award built upon a first-of-its-kind partnership between The Estée Lauder Companies and Startup India, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), reflecting a shared commitment to supporting Indian entrepreneurs and women-led startups.
The Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund, established by the company’s namesake brand, invests in organizations and programs that help women strengthen their leadership skills, build networks, and advance ideas intended to benefit their communities through its Beautiful Forces grants.
Carrying a Legacy Forward
From its earliest days, The Estée Lauder Companies has been committed to advancing progress for women and girls—a legacy reflected in the dedication of our employees, the reach of our brands, the expertise of our nonprofit partners, and the courage of women and girls around the world pursuing healthier, more independent futures.
We are proud to stand alongside them and to support a future in which more women and girls have access to the care, education, resources, and opportunities they need to shape their own paths.
This is how The Estée Lauder Companies seeks to carry its legacy forward: not alone, but in partnership with the many people and organizations working to create a future where beauty helps advance progress.