The Woman Who Changed How Black Women Think About Sunscreen

For decades, sunscreen sat on store shelves as a product designed with someone else in mind.

The marketing showed beach vacations and sunburn prevention. The formulas often left behind a white cast. And for many Black consumers, the category felt irrelevant, if not entirely dismissive of their skin.

For millions of people with melanated skin, sunscreen wasn’t just inconvenient. It was something the industry had never truly considered.

Shontay Lundy noticed the gap before the beauty industry did.

Today, the founder of Black Girl Sunscreen leads one of the most recognizable brands in modern sun care. Her products sit on shelves across major national retailers, including Target, Ulta Beauty, CVS, and Walgreens, and the brand has helped reshape how millions of people think about sun protection for melanated skin.

But long before she became a founder, Lundy was already learning the lessons that would eventually shape her leadership.

She grew up in upstate New York as the oldest of six siblings, a position that quietly required responsibility long before she ever thought about entrepreneurship.

“In many ways, leadership started at home,” Lundy says. “Being the oldest meant helping my mother, helping with my younger siblings, doing chores, and figuring things out even when resources were not always abundant.”

Responsibility became second nature. So did independence.

As a teenager, Lundy was involved in student government, ran track, served as captain of her cheerleading team, and started working early. She delivered newspapers at fifteen and enjoyed earning her own money.

“I loved fashion, and I liked having my own things,” she says. “Even something as simple as having my own phone line in my room felt like independence.”

Those early experiences helped shape the mindset that would follow her into adulthood. Long before she launched a company, Lundy already saw herself as someone who belonged in business.

“I always considered myself a businesswoman,” she says. “Even before I became a founder.”

After earning her MBA, Lundy spent more than a decade working in corporate America. The experience gave her something many founders never receive: a front-row seat to how major companies operate.

“I spent years observing how the world works, especially in business,” she explains. “Corporate America allowed me to see how decisions are made, how products are positioned, and how companies sometimes miss entire opportunities in the market.”

At one point, she even entered a PhD program focused on Organizational Behavior. But eventually, she had to choose where her energy would go.

“Education will always be there,” she says. “But Black Girl Sunscreen felt urgent. It felt like something that needed to exist.”

The idea for the brand began with something simple and frustrating: a search.

As Lundy started spending more time outdoors, she looked for sunscreen that would work on her skin tone without leaving behind a white cast. She typed phrases into Google that millions of people have searched before.

“Sunscreen for Black skin.”

“Sunscreen for brown skin.”

“Sunscreen for ethnic skin.”

Each time she searched, she found nothing that truly addressed the need.

“That’s when it really hit me,” she says. “Retailers, marketing professionals, healthcare professionals — no one was really thinking about Black people and sun care in a meaningful way.”

The realization quickly turned into a decision.

Before moving forward, Lundy asked herself three questions. Would Black women actually wear the product? Did she have the resources to create it? And did she have the confidence to build it?

Once the answer to all three was yes, Black Girl Sunscreen was born.

When Lundy launched the brand in 2016, the sunscreen industry was still largely framed through a narrow lens. Sun protection was marketed as seasonal rather than a daily skincare essential, and very few brands were developing formulas designed with deeper skin tones in mind.

Black Girl Sunscreen set out to solve one of the most persistent frustrations in the category: the white cast.

Instead of chalky residue, the formula blended seamlessly into melanated skin. The brand quickly resonated with consumers who had spent years avoiding sunscreen altogether because existing formulas simply did not work for them.

What began as a product solving a specific problem soon became something larger.

It became a cultural shift in how Black consumers approached sun protection.

Over the past decade, sunscreen has evolved into one of the fastest-growing segments of the global skincare market. Dermatologists increasingly recommend daily SPF as part of a basic skincare routine, and demand for sun protection products continues to climb worldwide. In fact, the global sun care market was valued at more than $15 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach approximately $16.6 billion in 2026, with continued growth projected through the next decade, according to industry market research.

But Lundy’s contribution goes beyond participating in the category’s growth. Black Girl Sunscreen helped push the industry to acknowledge a consumer it had historically overlooked.

The brand’s success eventually opened the doors to national retail distribution, a milestone many founders view as the finish line.

For Lundy, it was only the beginning.

“Many people think getting your product on the shelf is the finish line,” she says. “In reality, that’s when the real work begins.”

Retail introduces a new level of discipline. Inventory planning. Supply chains. Marketing support. Weekly sales data that quickly reveals whether a brand truly belongs on the shelf.

“Every week the numbers tell a story,” Lundy says.

That learning curve forced her to evolve not just as a founder, but as an operator.

“It made me more strategic,” she explains. “It’s not just about creating a great product. You have to build the business behind the product so it can actually scale.”

Nearly ten years after launching the brand, Black Girl Sunscreen has grown into a nationally recognized name in beauty. Lundy has appeared on major platforms, including Good Morning America and The View, and she has expanded her voice beyond product development with her podcast Shamelessly Shontay, where she explores conversations around business, wellness, and personal growth.

Still, Lundy is clear-eyed about the broader landscape facing Black founders in beauty.

“The conversation around Black beauty has become exhausting,” she says.

While visibility has increased, she believes the structural realities behind the scenes have not changed as dramatically as public conversations might suggest.

“Black beauty has shaped so much within the industry,” Lundy says. “But when it comes to real business investment and long-term infrastructure, the progress hasn’t moved as much as people might think.”

Scaling a beauty brand requires more than great products. It requires access to capital, infrastructure, experienced talent, and trusted partnerships across manufacturing, retail, and supply chains.

“You need partners who believe in your vision and are willing to grow with you,” she says. “Those opportunities are still not always easily accessible.”

Despite the challenges, Lundy continues to view entrepreneurship through the lens of growth and perseverance.

Black Girl Sunscreen will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year, a milestone that reflects nearly a decade of persistence.

“There were many days and nights that required positive self-talk and perseverance,” she says.

For the next generation of founders watching her journey, the lesson is simple.

“Being a dreamer is great,” Lundy says. “But at some point you have to execute on your dreams, or they remain just that.”

Her philosophy for building a company is rooted in patience.

Crawl.

Walk.

Run.

Start small. Learn the business. Grow intentionally.

“You have to take a leap of faith,” she says. “And not necessarily know where you’re going — and be okay with that.”

Because when challenges appear — and they always do — the real question is whether you are willing to find a solution and keep moving forward.

For Shontay Lundy, that leap of faith didn’t just build a brand.

It changed an entire conversation.