Huda Kattan, founder of Huda Beauty, has pledged to donate $100,000 to support freelance make-up artists who are struggling amid the pandemic.

The make-up artist and entrepreneur made the announcement on Instagram yesterday. In an emotional video, she spoke of how overwhelmed she felt at the moment and how, for her, the scariest part of the crisis is the people who will lose their jobs, become homeless, not be able to feed their families. “If we get sick or not, everyone is going to be affected financially, and some people are not going to be able to survive that financial impact,” she says.

Thinking back to 2016 when she started her business, Kattan remembers the financial burden she felt as a freelancer trying to make ends meet and says there were times when she wasn’t sure if she would be able to pay her employees or pay her rent. “It is hard to run a business as it is, never mind adding a pandemic to a situation... a lot of people are not going to survive this, point-blank,” she says.

So, to help beauty freelancers stay above water during this time, Kattan says her brand wants to make a big change for people and are going to start off their efforts by supporting make-up artists. Kattan will donate $100,000 to support 100 people. She has asked people on her Instagram to tag a freelance MUA who is struggling and share why they’ve put them forward. The team will then randomly select 100 entries.

Kattan ends the video saying they are doing their best and that this is just the start, they will continue to do what they can to support freelancers as well as small businesses over the coming days and weeks.

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