Zak Heath, Marie Louise Pumfrey, and Shahira Allen have a combined Instagram following of 94.7K. Last year, they enrolled on the first round of the Creator Collective – an influencer skincare education programme formed by No7 Beauty Company and the British Beauty Council.

As the programme enters its second phase, the three influencers share their thoughts on why beauty education is key to successful content creation

According to Trustpilot, two-thirds of consumers (65%) describe their level of trust in beauty and fashion influencers as ‘low’. Whether it’s greenwashing or counterfeits, influencers are increasingly at the other end of so-called keyboard warriors who challenge their opinions and endorsements.

To tackle this, the British Beauty Council partnered with No7 Beauty Company to formulate the industry’s first education programme for content creators. Now in its second year, the Creator Collective ensures influencers communicate skincare and make-up facts in effective, truthful, and engaging ways. 

Zak Heath, whose following has grown exponentially since taking part in the programme shares why he enrolled in the initiative, saying: ‘I’m not a trained dermatologist and I want to educate myself on skincare. I have a duty to give honest opinions and knowledge to the people that I am promoting products to. I have a duty to build relationships with my audience. I need to come across, and be, credible for the brands I work with too.’

With over 990k followers on TikTok, Heath’s niche is ‘genderless make-up’. Reaching close to a million people every day, the content creator realises the power of trust for cultivating his career. ‘What’s more important to me than the most amount of followers is about having followers who stay,’ he starts, explaining that the Creator Collective modules continue to help him to build better relationships with his audience. 

Marie Louise Pumfrey, better known as @mrsmlmode, was another star student of the first Creator Collective. ‘The team behind the programme have such a fascinating approach,’ she starts, continuing: ‘The three influencers in my cohort were all fashion focused. The Creator Collective was vital for us as there was a danger we could have been miseducating our audiences, we are fashion – not beauty – experts.’ 

Pumfrey goes on to say: ‘It’s really important to be sharing correct information. It was great that the programme showed me how.’ 

The programme is made up of six skincare modules, covering everything from ageing to skincare ingredients. All of the content is designed to de-bunk widely circulated skincare myths on social media, by ensuring creators are creating content that is accurate, authoritative and – most importantly – authentic. 

‘All of my beauty knowledge has just been based on my own experience, it wasn’t rooted in scientific research – but that changed after taking part in the Creator Collective,’ shares Shahira Allen (@afroglory_). ‘My main takeaway was how to communicate about products properly, I would tell people they “need” a product, but now I know I should caveat that products won’t work for everyone.’ 

Pro-age influencer Carol Manson, skincare junkie Adeola K, and lifestyle creator Zanne Lee are just three members of the second wave of the Creator Collective. 

Allen hopes to see a further roll-out of the programme, noting: ‘This is the start of something huge. It’s great to know that what I am putting out there is rooted in knowledge, not trends and clickbait. Over the years, it should become a standard for all beauty creators to have some form of education.’ 

The Creator Collective is one part of the British Beauty Council’s Future Talent Mission, a beauty-specific career development initiative, which aims to provide practical support to those wishing to pursue enriching careers in the beauty industry. Find out more here.