L'Oréal names NEXT Generation Awards finalists

Today, L'Oréal USA announced the three finalists in this year’s competition: “amazing women whose technologies have the potential to revolutionize media, mobile, and marketing,”​ as press materials from the company put it. More specifically, “the finalists were chosen based on their ability to scale and solve for need gaps among L’Oréal brands.”​

This Friday, the finalists will present their work to hundreds of marketing executives from across L’Oréal brands at the company’s Inspiration Day international marketing conference. Then, the L’Oréal executives will vote, and the winning tech entrepreneur will partner with the company to test and better her project.

“The 2016 Next Generation finalists are an impressive group of women who embody the spirit of the Women in Digital program and have created innovative business solutions with the potential to revolutionize the beauty industry,”​ says Rachel Weiss, VP of innovation and entrepreneurship at L'Oréal USA, in the press release announcing the finalists.

“These women will enrich the community of visionary female entrepreneurs we have assembled over the past five years, and through the program we will empower them through mentorship, collaboration and the ability to scale their cutting-edge ideas into transformative technologies,” ​she adds.

Morgan DeBaun​

Morgan DeBaun launched Blavity in 2014. It’s a digital content community for Black millennials. “Blavity believes that the world shifts according to the way people see it,”​ note the L'Oréal release. So, “the company partners with diverse content creators and influencers to help them reach a wider audience, amplify their message and fund their passion projects.”​

Grace Woo​

Computer scientist and electrical engineer Grace Woo founded VRCodes and Pixels.IO to make digital interactivity less conspicuous and more functional.  Her technology “leverage[s] how eyes see differently than cameras”​ and turns “every screen into an interactive experience by offering an unobtrusive alternative to QR Codes, content creators can embed VRCodes into any form of digital media and a smartphone will recognize and respond to it.” ​

Grainne Barron​

Viddyad is a video creation and distribution platform that Grainne Barron founded three years ago. The “award-winning platform…enables businesses and brands to create, edit, publish and distribute videos online in minutes.”​ By careful design, the technology democratizes video advertising.