- Sephora Canada has launched "Pretty Badass," a new partnership platform as Founding and Official Beauty Partner of the Toronto Tempo, featuring players Marina Mabrey, Kiki Rice, Isabelle Harrison, Nyara Sabally, Temi Fágbénlé, and Head Coach Sandy Brondello.
- The campaign directly challenges the idea that women must choose between being athletic or beautiful, reframing "pretty" as a power statement rather than a limitation.
- Sephora Canada is running a national social media nominations campaign (June 4–11 on @sephoracanada Instagram) for fans to spotlight "Pretty Badass" women in their communities, with winners receiving courtside Tempo tickets.
- The campaign rolls out nationally across TV, CTV, digital, in-arena, and out-of-home placements in all Tempo game markets.
Sephora Canada is making its presence felt courtside and beyond. The beauty retail giant officially unveiled “Pretty Badass” on June 1, 2026, a partnership platform built around its role as Founding and Official Beauty Partner of the Toronto Tempo, Canada’s first-ever WNBA franchise.
Fronting the campaign are Tempo stars Marina Mabrey, Kiki Rice, Isabelle Harrison, Nyara Sabally, Temi Fágbénlé, and Head Coach Sandy Brondello. The platform flips the script on conventional beauty standards, celebrating athletes as multidimensional women, not just competitors.
For Harrison, the Sephora Canada deal adds to a strong 2026 off-court run. She recently partnered with One Size for a new beauty campaign, signaling her growing appeal in the beauty space.
Rice, the Tempo’s first-ever draft pick (6th overall) and 2026 NCAA champion with UCLA, has been similarly busy. She was named brand ambassador and equity holder for MiniLuxe ahead of the WNBA Draft, and wore Coach on the Orange Carpet.
Mabrey, fresh off being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week and averaging 18.7 points per game in 2026, is enjoying a career year on and off the court.
For Sephora Canada, this marks the brand’s first known official partnership with WNBA athletes, extending a broader Sephora global history of collaborating with cultural boundary-pushers. The campaign runs nationally across TV, digital, in-arena, and out-of-home placements.
Takeaways
This deal is more than a beauty brand slapping logos on jerseys, it’s a genuine cultural statement. Sephora Canada is betting that the WNBA’s Canadian debut is a watershed moment, and the “Pretty Badass” platform positions the brand as a co-author of that narrative, not just a sponsor.
Tapping Harrison, Rice, and Mabrey, three players who are visibly building personal brands with purpose and equity deals, shows serious homework was done in choosing faces who already speak to the intersection of beauty, sport, and self-expression.
The campaign’s audience-participation angle (nominating community women June 4–11) is particularly smart: it extends the brand moment beyond the athletes and into everyday Canadians, building grassroots connection ahead of the WNBA’s critical first Canadian season.
Does “Pretty Badass” set a new standard for how beauty brands should enter sports sponsorships, going beyond product placement into cultural storytelling? Could this Sephora Canada partnership pave the way for a U.S. Sephora x WNBA activation, given how well the athletes translate nationally?
