Beauty Is Inside and Out at Sephora Through New Program to Make a Difference in Communities Across America

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 24, 2013 (Press-News.org) Sephora Americas announced today the launch of Values Inside Out, a visionary partnership program matching Sephora stores across America with non-profit organizations in their own communities. Under this program, each store's team of cast members (Sephora's term for sales associates) will have the opportunity to choose a local non-profit they want to help through raising awareness, providing funds and contributing their own "sweat equity" to enable that organization to fulfill their mission over the course of 2013.

Mary Herald, Sephora's Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Education, said, "At Sephora, our vision for Values Inside Out is to inspire and engage our teams to play a part in making a difference in their communities, and to do so in a way that is completely aligned and integrated with our Values. We know that beauty is both inside and out and we know our teams will feel proud of what they accomplish for their communities and even more so where they work."

The initiative begins this week, as participating Sephora stores across the country announce their partnership with local non-profits. In the Culver City Sephora, cast members have chosen Create Now. This award-winning organization transforms the lives of youth in need through arts mentoring and experiences. Jill Gurr, the Founder and Executive Director of Create Now said, "We're so grateful for Sephora's support, especially since the troubled kids that we serve have such low self-esteem. We'll be bringing youth to Sephora to give them make-overs. We're also preparing a special project this fall that will enable the most vulnerable children in our community to be mentored by Sephora volunteers. It's opportunities like Values Inside Out that help raise awareness of the hundreds of thousands of "forgotten children" who have fallen through the cracks in our community who urgently need support, and the impact that Create Now is having on them."

Sephora plans to measure the results of the VIO Program annually by the amount of funds raised by each non-profit as a result of its partnership in the program and the number of volunteer hours contributed by Sephora cast members during the year. To learn more about the program, please visit http://www.sephora.com/valuesinsideout.

About Sephora Americas:
Since 1998, Sephora has been TRANSFORMING BEAUTY in the U.S. Today, Sephora Americas operates more than 300 stores in the U.S. and Canada as well as the world's top beauty website, Sephora.com. In 2010 Sephora expanded into Latin America, where it now has stores in Mexico and in Brazil. Sephora is well known for its unique retail concept, which is rooted in its distinctive open-sell store design, the beauty expertise of its sales consultants and, most importantly, its unparalleled combination of over 200 classic and emerging brands across a broad range of product categories including skincare, color, fragrance, bath & body, smilecare, and haircare, as well as Sephora's own private label. Sephora has also been recognized as a leading digital brand and continues to advance this arena through mobile and social media initiatives including an active Facebook page, BeautyTalk-its online beauty community, its mobile site and Apps. In addition to its North and Latin American business and its initiative with jcp, which includes more than 300 Sephora inside jcp locations, Sephora today has more than 1,660 stores within 29 countries. Sephora was founded in France in 1970 and acquired in 1997 by Paris-based LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's leading luxury products group. For further information, please visit http://www.sephora.com

About Create Now:
Create Now is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1996 that transforms the lives of youth in need through arts mentoring and experiences. We serve vulnerable children ages 2-25 with our therapeutic programs in music, writing, visual arts and the performing arts. Kids who have been abused, neglected, homeless, incarcerated and dealing with other challenges learn to express themselves in a positive manner versus the destructive ways that they have in the past. Each year, we also bring thousands of these youngsters to concerts, plays and other cultural events. We have reached over 30,000 of the most troubled youth in Southern California during the last 16 years. More information about Create Now can be found at http://www.createnow.org.