Sharon Chutner, the founding father of Uoma Magnificence and a driving power within the motion to diversify the sweetness business by each the corporate she based and her personal private initiatives. was discovered on Aug. 14 useless on a patio, and her loss of life is presently nonetheless beneath investigation, stories Individuals Journal.
Kirbie Johnson, who runs the publication “Forward of the Kirb,” reported {that a} supply conversant in Chutner’s circles stated a former government from Chutner’s firm confirmed Chutner’s loss of life.
Chutner, who launched Uoma Magnificence in 2019 at Ulta with an preliminary providing of greater than 100 inclusive magnificence merchandise, got here with bona fides within the magnificence business, together with most notably, convincing Revlon to distribute magnificence merchandise in her residence nation of Nigeria.
A yr after launching Uoma Magnificence, as conversations round variety, fairness, and inclusion gained momentum following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Chutner launched two pivtol initiatives — Pull Up for Change and the #PullUpOrShutUp marketing campaign — difficult magnificence corporations to reveal the variety of Black staff in company and management roles inside 72 hours of being known as out.
Her initiative additionally inspired customers to vote with their {dollars} and keep away from corporations that did not reveal this info.
Chutner spoke about this in additional element two years later, throughout an episode of “The Drew Barrymore Present.”
“I did that basically to drive extra consciousness and shine extra gentle to the dearth of financial alternatives for the Black neighborhood, particularly throughout the magnificence area. I’ve all the time been the one that speaks up. At any time when I see one thing that should change, I don’t have it in me means to simply sit it out,” she instructed Barrymore.
In 2023, regardless of all her work on behalf of variety with Uoma Magnificence, she opted to step down as CEO of the corporate, which she later defined was a choice she made after a major well being scare in January of that yr that made her search out a extra wholesome work-life stability.
She additionally admitted in an Instagram submit addressing the matter that it wasn’t totally voluntary, one thing she would expound on in a lawsuit two years later.
In response to Attract, in 2025, just a few months earlier than her premature loss of life, Chutner filed a lawsuit towards MacArthur Magnificence, BrainTrust, and Settle Funding, alleging that “BrainTrust took management of Uoma’s operations and finally pushed Ms. Chuter out of her operational roles.”
Along with this, BrainTrust each stopped Uoma’s operations whereas she was on medical go away, which she alleged was supposed to finish in July 2023.
In response to her lawsuit, she was additionally purported to return in a “chief model officer” capability whereby she would have been in command of “overseeing artistic, product improvement, in addition to being the face of the model… This didn’t occur.”
Moreover, after the lawsuit was filed, BrainTrust gave their facet of what occurred as Chutner’s tenure with Uoma got here to an finish.
“It’s not our observe to remark publicly on our investments in non-public corporations, however this specious criticism requires a response. Ms. Chuter resigned from the Uoma board and publicly on Instagram after hiring an interim CEO who carried out a forensic accounting overview of the corporate,” they stated in a joint assertion with MacArthur Magnificence, LLC management.
The lawsuit Chutner filed in February 2025 in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom alleges that BrainTrust et al engaged in “constructive fraudulent switch, intentional fraudulent switch, aiding and abetting fraudulent switch, receipt of stolen property, and unjust enrichment.”
Because of this, the lawsuit states that Chutner was looking for “damages for fraudulent switch and MacArthur and BrainTrust’s receipt of Uoma’s practically $50 million in stolen property.” Which she famous in her lawsuit ought to be “decided based on proof at trial in extra of the jurisdictional minimal of $25,000.”
Regardless of the advanced nature of the lawsuit, Chutner’s premature loss of life leaves many authorized issues unresolved for now.
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