While way too many industries continue to struggle with diversity, one YouTuber is trying to change that.

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Deepica Mutyala recently founded a new platform, TINTED, which is helping those underrepresented in the beauty industry find a voice.

Deepica describes TINTED as "the first ever digital community focused on the representation of 'all the shades in between.'" She explains that the vision specifically is "to provide an inclusive platform for underrepresented and nuanced skin tones mainly comprising of the south Asian, Middle Eastern, and mixed communities." While Deepica regularly creates awareness for more representation in the beauty industry and beyond through her personal channels, she and her team made this platform for everyone else to have a place do the same.

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TINTED's Instagram already has over 11k followers, which shows the necessity for a place this community can come together. Deepica explains that its popularity shows "that this community wants a home and we're here to have TINTED evolve into something big with them by our side."

With this platform, Deepica plans to "delve deeper into the stories of women who are underrepresented in this demographic through our editorial, video, and community forums."

TINTED doesn't aim to be a blog, but rather a multi-platform community that focuses on short form content digestible and relevant to the community. Their newsletter, No Shade, will focus on giving voices to underrepresented beauty industry members and discuss products, with their overall goal being to "empower women to look and feel their best on their own terms throughout life's transitions."

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Deepica and her team want this digital community to help members to #livetinted, which she defines as living confidently when it comes to embracing their identity.

She has many other plans for the community, such as giveaways, an ambassador program and more, to help it continue to grow and evolve.

While few diversity initiatives in the past few years have slowly become a part of the beauty industry, this platform comes none too soon. In Reni Eddo-Lodge's article for Stylist, she writes that "even when I find a shade that fits my skin like a glove, the language of beauty reveals a passively hostile terrain. Shades are lazily referred to as ‘deep sand’ or ‘tanned’, speaking almost exclusively to the white woman."

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Eddo-Lodge continues by urging people not to "buy into brands that don’t cater for you. Don’t squeeze your skintone into a shade that isn’t quite right. Seek out the make-up, hair stylists and salons that meet your needs and make you feel good about yourself – and not like a minority."

Women of color such as Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o have become the faces of ad campaigns in recent years, suggesting the times are changing. But as Taylor Bryant says in an article for Refinery29, "it’s not enough to slap Lupita or Kerry or Zendaya’s face on your ad and call it a day — you have to also deliver with the product."

In Clover Hope's article for Jezebel, she argues that the primary issue is "not as simple as creating more shades. There’s an issue of ignorance and the issue of marketing."

Through TINTED, Deepica Mutyala hopes that these issues can be discussed by members of the community in one place, and that by creating such a community, real change can begin to be seen in the beauty industry.

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TopicsActivismBeautyInstagramSocial GoodYouTube