Australia’s first accessible beauty summit
The Project
Beauty products in Australia simply aren’t designed for people with blindness or low vision.
So, we brought together some of the brightest minds in beauty, product design, technology and accessibility for Australia’s first Beauty Summit. We even got global beauty influencer and accessibility champion, Molly Burke, on deck to host a transformative panel discussion on the future of accessible design in the beauty industry – sparking a conversation around the solutions to Australia’s lack of inclusive design in the process.
THE CHALLENGE
Beauty products and services often overlook accessibility, making it harder for the 1 in 5 Australians who have a disability to fully engage with and enjoy them – and leaving $40b of spending power on the table.
The good news? Even simple design changes can make a big difference – improving usability, expanding access, and creating better experiences for everyone. By embracing universal design, brands and retailers can reach more customers, strengthen their reputation, and unlock new business opportunities.
But here’s the inconvenient truth: brands typically only act on social change when external forces – media scrutiny or consumer demand – push them to. Altruistic appeals weren’t going to cut it. We needed to show brands and retailers that inclusive beauty isn’t just good for people – it’s good for business.
THE SOLUTION
We flipped the script, stopped making the case like a charity, and used the same tools the industry uses to sell lipstick.
Together, we launched the Boundless Beauty Summit – Australia’s first event dedicated to making beauty truly inclusive. A landmark event bringing together global experts, industry leaders, and forward-thinking brands to explore how accessible design benefits both consumers and businesses.
For our keynote, we flew in someone the industry couldn’t ignore: Molly Burke – an internationally respected beauty influencer and disability advocate with over 2 million followers. Oh yeah, she’s also blind.
Molly grabbed the mic along with our host, ABC disability affairs reporter, Nas Campanella, and other industry agitators. They reframed disability not as a deficit, but as an opportunity. And accessibility not as an obligation, but a competitive edge. They didn’t just ask the industry to change; they helped show them what it was costing them not to.
Immediately following the Summit, we launched a new toolkit for the industry, to continue the conversation. These Accessible Beauty Guidelines are free to download and offer practical recommendations for brands to use in the product design and development process.
The Results
The Summit itself was underpinned by a concerted media push by Keep Left’s Sydney PR team, with Molly Burke acting as the face of a press tour that included interviews on The Morning Show (interview; socials), The Project (interview; socials), and Triple J Hack (interview; socials), as well as highly impactful profile pieces in both the Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald.
On the back of this, we were inundated with messages of appreciation from the community at large – a sure sign that our challenge to the beauty industry has resonated with the whole of Australia. Now beauty brands must pay attention.
Since the Boundless Beauty Summit, we have received incredible feedback from media and brands wanting to learn more and do better. We’re open for business and look forward to working with commercially minded brands that want to make beauty better for everyone – brands that can be confident that on the other side is an educated and engaged Australian public, ready to embrace accessible beauty with both hands.