The Estée Lauder Companies and Estée Lauder Brand Announce Partnership With Amanda Gorman

Press Release, 2 Sep 2021

Amanda Gorman Named Global Changemaker and Curator of New “WRITING CHANGE” Literacy Initiative for The Estée Lauder Companies

The Estée Lauder Companies will contribute $3M over three years to this inaugural literacy initiative

NEW YORK --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) and the Estée Lauder brand announced a three-year partnership with Amanda Gorman, activist, award-winning writer, and the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. This is the first such multi-year partnership for Amanda and the first integrated partnership by The Estée Lauder Companies and the Estée Lauder brand to acknowledge and celebrate a new generation of leaders inspiring change.

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The Estée Lauder Companies and Estée Lauder Brand Announce Partnership With Amanda Gorman (Photo: Business Wire)

As part of this unprecedented partnership, The Estée Lauder Companies will contribute US$3M over three years to support WRITING CHANGE, a special initiative to advance literacy as a pathway to equality, access, and social change. In addition, Amanda will bring her voice of change to the Estée Lauder brand through campaigns debuting in Spring 2022.

“Our company was founded by an extraordinary woman, Estée Lauder, who paved the way for women everywhere to believe anything is possible. Our first of its kind partnership with Amanda was created under these very same trailblazing ideals,” said Jane Hertzmark Hudis, Executive Group President, The Estée Lauder Companies. “Amanda’s powerful presence and inspirational voice brings hope and confidence to the next generation of leaders. Together, we will create real and meaningful impact through literacy, voice, and self-expression.”

The Estée Lauder Companies and Amanda are united in supporting causes for equality and social impact. The WRITING CHANGE initiative is strongly aligned with the goals of The Estée Lauder Companies and The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, which focuses on the well-being of diverse global communities, emphasizing women and girls, supported by the pillars of health, education, and the environment.

“I am honored to partner with The Estée Lauder Companies to activate change through literacy, and to represent a brand founded by such an inspiring and daring woman,” said Amanda Gorman. “Mrs. Estée Lauder shattered glass ceilings as a leader in business 75 years ago. Embracing this spirit, I am delighted that our partnership will help inspire women, girls, and all people around the world to do great things, to disrupt, to be confident, and to be future leaders in whatever path they take.”

“Amanda embodies a new generation and demonstrates the importance and influence of voice,” said Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies. “As a company, we are committed to nurturing the leaders and talent of the future, empowering them to use their voices—and to use them loudly. We are thrilled to partner with Amanda as we embark on this collective journey to strengthen our commitment to girls’ education, helping provide the skills needed to be heard around the globe.”

This year, The Estée Lauder Companies and the Estée Lauder brand celebrate 75 years in business, and today the company is the world’s leader in prestige beauty, supported by a global workforce that is 84% female. In March 2021, the company published its commitments to gender equality and women’s advancement, with initiatives committed to levelling the playing field for all genders inside and outside the company.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company’s products are sold in approximately 150 countries and territories under brand names including: Estée Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Lab Series, Origins, Tommy Hilfiger, M·A·C, La Mer, Bobbi Brown, Donna Karan New York, DKNY, Aveda, Jo Malone London, Bumble and bumble, Michael Kors, Darphin Paris, TOM FORD BEAUTY, Smashbox, Ermenegildo Zegna, AERIN, Le Labo, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, GLAMGLOW, KILIAN PARIS, BECCA, Too Faced and Dr.Jart+, and the DECIEM family of brands, including The Ordinary and NIOD.

Estée Lauder is the flagship brand of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Founded by Estée Lauder, one of the world’s first female entrepreneurs, the brand today continues her legacy of creating innovative, sophisticated, high-performance skincare and makeup products and iconic fragrances – all infused with a deep understanding of women’s needs and desires. Today, Estée Lauder engages with women in over 150 countries and territories around the world and at dozens of touch points – from in-store to digital. And each of these relationships consistently reflects Estée’s powerful and authentic woman-to-woman point of view.

Fueled by our company values and employees’ passions, the mission of ELCCF is to improve the well-being of our diverse global communities, with an emphasis on women and girls. ELCCFfocuses our efforts on three pillars: health, education and the environment and make annual grants to organizations in the United States and around the world that align with these pillars.

Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. She is a committed advocate for the environment, racial equality, and gender justice. Amanda’s activism and poetry have been featured on the Today Show, PBS Kids, and CBS This Morning, and in the New York Times , Vogue, and Essence. After graduating cum laude from Harvard University, she now lives in her hometown of Los Angeles. In 2017, Amanda Gorman was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word – a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions and states nationally. Gorman’s performance of her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration received critical acclaim and international attention. The special edition of her inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was published in March 2021 and debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestsellers list. Amanda appeared on the cover of TIME magazine in February 2021 and was the first poet to grace the cover of Vogue in their May 2021 issue. She was Porter Magazine's July 2021cover star and received The Artist Impact Award at the 2021 Backstage at the Geffen Awards. Her debut picture book, Change Sings, will be published in September 2021, and her poetry collection, Call Us What We Carry, will release in December 2021. Please visit theamandagorman.com.

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