MAC Cosmetics is on a mission to raise $1 billion dollars for the MAC AIDS Fund, which benefits HIV/AIDS research—and it’s already more than halfway there. To fete the $525 million already raised so far (for over 30 years, a percentage of sales from the Viva Glam lipstick range has gone to the fund), the beauty brand hosted a star-studded “Billion Dollar Ball” last night in New York City's Financial District. “We wanted to do something special,” says Aïda Moudachirou-Rébois, global general manager of MAC Cosmetics.
“One thing that has been on my mind is always about making sure that we continue to build the incredible legacy that this initiative is actually forging." When Viva Glam debuted in 1994, founders Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo established the MAC AIDS Fund to raise funds for HIV/AIDS research. Now, Moudachirou-Rébois tells that the brand is broadening its scope with the MAC Viva Glam fund, which continues to give back 100% of the purchasing price to charities that support sexual, gender, racial, and environmental equality around the world.
So through the party, Moudachirou-Rébois and global creative director Drew Elliott brought together its charitable partners, celebrities, influencers, and friends of MAC to celebrate the money already raised, but as a commitment to raising the next $500 million. “So why is that a better way to go celebrate, you know, charity in a vault next to the New York Stock Exchange,” Aïda Moudachirou-Rébois quip.