Juniper
Now in its eighth year, Fondation L’Oréal’s Beauty For A Better Life (BFBL) programme, in partnership with WOMEN:girls, continues to uplift and empower Malaysian women from underprivileged backgrounds. The 2024 programme welcomes 53 new participants, who will receive training in two key beauty fields: professional hairdressing and makeup artistry.
The BFBL programme in Malaysia has successfully nurtured 249 graduates, with an impressive 90% employment rate achieved within three months post-graduation.
At the ceremony, Tomas Hruska, Managing Director of L’Oréal Malaysia, highlighted the programme’s transformative impact, saying, “Beauty For A Better Life represents our long-term mission at L’Oréal Malaysia to help individuals make meaningful breakthroughs in their lives. We are immensely proud to empower this new class of graduates, who we believe will serve as beacons of inspiration in their communities through the skills they have developed here.”
He added, “Our collaboration with WOMEN:girls has been integral to this programme’s success. Seeing the passion and dedication of these graduates inspires us all. We hope their journeys as beauty entrepreneurs will demonstrate to others the power they hold to transform their lives and communities.”
Izza Izelan, Executive Director of WOMEN:girls, praised the partnership’s impact, noting, “The progress we’ve seen among participants is inspiring. Many have not only developed professional skills but have also grown in confidence. This year, we also saw some of the impact coming back into the programme with one of our past participants contributing as Educator. At WOMEN:girls, we believe in education’s power to create lasting societal change, and BFBL exemplifies this commitment.”
The programme focuses on empowering women facing vulnerable situations, many from lower-income groups, by offering skill-building and interpersonal development that equip them to pursue successful careers as makeup artists or hairdressers.
This year’s graduates include:
- Vinmalar A/P Rabil, a 20-year-old unemployed SPM leaver who always love make-up but faced financial constraints in pursuing formal training. With the support of BFBL, Vinmalar now has the foundation to pursue her dream career.
- Cheong Yi Wen, who found new purpose in BFBL after experiencing burnout and mental health challenges in her previous career. The programme enabled her to rediscover her creative side, and she now plans to expand her skills into special effects (SFX) makeup.
Also joining the BFBL family in a new capacity this year is Nursyasya Afina binti Suhaimi, an inspiring 2022 BFBL hairdressing graduate who returns as an educator. Following her own transformative experience in the programme,
Nursyasya now owns two hair salons in Melaka and recently launched her own training academy. Her journey has come full circle as she mentored this year’s cohort in the BFBL 2024 Hairdressing Course.
Launched in Malaysia in 2016, the Beauty For A Better Life programme has reached over 249 women to date. L’Oréal Malaysia continues to expand the programme’s reach by establishing new training centres, training instructors, offering motivational sessions, holding masterclasses in collaboration with L’Oréal Professionnel and L’Oréal Paris, and assisting with job placements.
For more information on Beauty For A Better Life, please visit the L’Oréal Foundation.
