AP/Augusta Chronicle Profiles MAC Cosmetics AIDS Fund
The AP/Augusta Chronicle on Tuesday profiled the MAC Cosmetics AIDS Fund, a program "born out of a sense of personal loss" from the disproportionate effect of HIV/AIDS on the fashion and beauty industries during the early years of the pandemic. According to Lilia Garcia-Leyva, the fund's executive director, the program works with other organizations that provide such "daily essentials" as food, housing and medications and focuses on children affected by HIV/AIDS, the AP/Chronicle reports. MAC also has created Viva Glam, a collection of five lipsticks that has raised $40 million for the fund over the past 10 years. The fund receives 100% of the collection's selling price, not only the proceeds, according to John Demsey, the fund's chair and acting president of MAC. "It brought incredible visibility to the HIV/AIDS issue in the cosmetics industry, and it's an emotional connection for people who work for us to be a part of something that's for the better good," Demsey said. Three years ago, MAC also initiated Good Spirits -- a beauty program for women living with HIV/AIDS. The "face of AIDS has changed over the years," Garcia-Leyva said, adding, "It's now a young woman's face" (Critchell, AP/Augusta Chronicle, 11/15). The complete article is available online.
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