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Benefit Cosmetics has hired its first brand ambassador with Down syndrome

INSIDER logoINSIDER 1/14/2019 Molly Thomson
a person talking on a cell phone © kategrantmodel/Instagram


  • Benefit has hired model Kate Grant as a brand ambassador.
  • Kate Grant has already broken barriers as the first international beauty pageant winner with Down syndrome.
  • The brand said they were attracted to her "zest for life" and "amazing energy."

Kate Grant, 20, made makeup history last week when Benefit Cosmetics tapped the model to promote their new Roller Liner Liquid Eyeliner, making Grant the first brand ambassador with Down syndrome the beauty brand has ever hired.

"We discovered Kate by chance in the summer of 2018 when we saw a Facebook video about her journey to becoming a model," a representative for Benefit told the Daily Mail. "We fell instantly in love with her."

Then, after an Instagram of Grant posing with the eyeliner racked up thousands of likes, Benefit decided to ask her to be an official ambassador. The brand was attracted to her "amazing energy" and "incredible zest for life."

"She embodied everything we stand for as a brand so we knew we had to find a way to work with her," the rep concluded to the Daily Mail.

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A post shared by Benefit Cosmetics UK (@benefitcosmeticsuk) on Jan 2, 2019 at 10:00am PST

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A post shared by Benefit Cosmetics UK (@benefitcosmeticsuk) on Jan 6, 2019 at 9:00am PST

"She is paving the way for people coming behind her," her mom, Deidre, told Metro in an interview. "Kate is aware of that and wants to spread awareness about inclusion for people with disabilities and that is what she has done from the very start. She is aware that she is able to do that in a way some of her friends cannot. She is using her voice for them."

This isn't the first time Kate has made headlines. In August, she became the first woman with Down's syndrome to win an international beauty pageant when she was crowned Teen Ultimate Beauty of the World.

"I want the next generation who have any special needs to know the true meaning of beauty is who you are, not what you look like," she told the Mirror. "Kindness, compassion and inner ­sparkle, that's the ultimate beauty."

Related: Benefit Cosmetics is revamping and expanding their wildly popular Boi-ing collection [Provided by Hello Giggles]

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