Concerned with the focus many beauty magazines and websites place on unrealistic body ideals and weight, Alexis Wolfer launched The Beauty Bean, a free online magazine and weekly e-‐mail newsletter, in 2010 in order to provide women with a glamorous beauty site with an unparalleled focus on inner beauty and health. Alexis, who brings her previous professional experience at women’s magazines and websites to The Beauty Bean, graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis and earned her Master’s Degree from Columbia University, writing her thesis on the role some women’s magazines have in promoting negative body image. These two experiences both influenced and prompted her to create The Beauty Bean as the source for all things beauty, health and wellness that is free from stories on weight loss, dieting and airbrushing.The Beauty Bean brings together Alexis’ passion for beauty and fitness, as well as her desire for all women to feel beautiful and confident, with the hope of showing women that beauty isn’t a number on a scale but is instead about beautifying, nourishing, pampering, sweating and lusting. In the spring of 2010 Alexis launched Makeup Free Mondays as a visual representation of The Beauty Bean’s mission to encourage women to embrace their natural beauty, become more comfortable in their own skin and encourage the expansion the definition of beauty. The movement also includes a charitable arm, encouraging women to donate unused makeup to local women’s organizations such as Dress for Success. With Alexis at its helm, Makeup Free Mondays grew from a popular trend to an international movement spreading coast to coast and across social media, becoming the #1 story on AOL the day it was announced and leading to coverage everywhere from Inc. Magazine to Oprah.com. Through The Beauty Bean and its experts, content, events and initiatives, Alexis hopes to serve as a leader in the growing global movement towards a more realistic, healthful and broad definition of beauty as defined not only by the media, but also women themselves. Alexis is a regular media expert on both beauty and lifestyle topics, as well as a leading voice in the real beauty and healthy body image movement. She has been featured from NBC to CBS, IVillage to Oprah.com and the Examiner to the United Kingdom’s leading newspaper, The Independent.
About the Beauty Bean
The Beauty Bean, a free online magazine and weekly e-‐mail newsletter, is an intimate guide to beauty inside and out. Drawing on the expertise of their editorial team, the website offers readers an insider’s look at the latest products, research and trends in beauty, fitness and wellness. Founder Alexis Wolfer’s goal is to help the modern woman lead a healthier and more beautiful life. Setting The Beauty Bean apart from other sites, however, is the underlying goal of promoting better body images and preventing disorders through the elimination of the usual focus on weight loss. What will you not find on The Beauty Bean are gimmick and fad diets, promises to help you lose ten pounds in ten days, airbrushed models or unrealistic beauty goals. Regular visitors however, find relevant reviews of the latest must—have products and treatments, insider tips, professional tricks and current trends in fitness, nutrition, and beauty. Other Beauty Bean highlights include the On Real Beauty series, personal weekly interviews with well—known women ranging from Olympic athletes to Hollywood actresses who will shed light on their beauty secrets as well as what real beauty means to them (past interviewees have included Serena Williams, Kathy Griffin, Catt Sadler, Elisabeth Shue, Chris Evert and more) and Beauty School, a weekly feature that picks the brain of a leader in the beauty industry (this series launched with makeup artist and star of What Not To Wear’s Carmindy, one of the leading voices in the beauty arena). Whether reviewing the latest beauty must—haves, translating make—up looks from the runway to the real way or finding new ways to celebrate strength and health as opposed to a number on a scale, The Beauty Bean celebrates and embraces real, healthy beauty of all kinds at any age.
Courtesy www.thebeautybean.com
