Beauty News NYC, America’s first digital beauty magazine, is The Little Indie Beauty Mag That Could.
Long before the major beauty & fashion magazines migrated to digital, we were reveling in our unique status as the first online beauty magazine. Today, June 5th, marks Year 20 for us as the pre-eminent leader in digital beauty & lifestyle.
Our Storied History
When jewelry designer Kimberly McDonald created an online beauty magazine in 2003, Facebook didn’t exist, Amazon was in its infancy, and ChatGPT was decades away. Low-rise jeans were the rage, Beyonce’s first solo album, “Dangerously in Love” and “Landslide” by the Dixie Chicks were the musical hits. Kimberly McDonald poured her heart into the fledgling beauty magazine for the next eight years by cultivating a devoted writing team, ardent readership, and satellite sites Beauty News L.A., Miami, and Paris.
Hundreds of writers contributed to Beauty News NYC over the years, spanning seasoned pros to talented young journalists. Some writers have gone on to become authors, executives with beauty brands, or corporate marketing executives. As for Kimberly McDonald, her new jewelry business took off, forcing her to choose between devoting her time to that or to Beauty News NYC. So in 2011, she sold the magazine to then co-Editors-in-Chief, B. Kim Taylor and Candice Sabatini, who were aligned in their desire to keep this publication thriving (and the first editors to purchase the publication they worked for).
Our talented team has kept Beauty News NYC vibrant, growing, and relevant over the years. Makeup editor Amy Sciarretto owns her own music PR company, and has been with the site since its inception, as has writer Sharon Gomes-Thomas, who owns a production company. Spa editor Susan Romero has been with the site nearly as long and is a lawyer. City Pulse + Men’s editor PK Greenfield, who works on Broadway, has been with us for more than a decade. Webmaster Christopher Szaz, owner of Charlemagne Web Designs, has been the site’s webmaster since its founding and designed its layouts and many iterations over the years. Now we have a fresh new Creative Strategist, Sophia Calderone, and a savvy Social Media Manager, Gemma Lolos, along with a strong group of established and newer writers.
Beauty News NYC: What Has Changed Since 2003, What Hasn’t
Over the years, the most notable change in the beauty & fashion industry has been the rising popularity of clean-ingredient beauty, athleisure-wear, and diversity.
Taylor says, “Everything has grown more ingredient-transparent, more informal, and more diverse — especially in terms of faces and body sizes. I actively seek out more inclusive images to feature, and love to spotlight upstart brands whenever possible.”
Sabatini adds, “I’m particularly proud of sharing vital information & insight on trends and ingredients, and enabling readers to see behind the curtain by including the perfumers’ names, as well as the cosmetic chemists who create the products.”
Roughly 35% of the site’s readers now identify as male, up from 30% a few years ago, and 18% in the magazine’s first decade. The site is seeing growth on its social media platforms, too. We have a global reach, but for New Yorkers, our City Pulse section covers everything from clubs in Brooklyn to restaurants, museums, theater, and cultural events.
We’re throwing a party this Fall to celebrate our 20th at Ainslie in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And there is much to celebrate.
“We’ve never had a better team than the one we have now,” Taylor says. “The people you work with are everything — they’re the difference between success and failure, fun and drudgery, inspiration and exasperation, and they are the bridge from the past to the future.”
Sabatini agrees. “What keeps our readers coming back are our truthful and unbiased reviews that enable them to shop with confidence”.
Lolos sums up why writers enjoy Beauty News NYC: “When I joined the magazine over three years ago, I knew I was attaching myself to something special — the kind of thing I fantasized about as a little kid, but that seemed unattainable. I could never have imagined the joy of regularly collaborating with a team of such intelligent, creative, and dedicated people. I am so proud of what the Beauty News Team has built, and we remain committed to our mission to provide engaging and unique content for our readers from diverse and opinionated content creators.”
We are celebrating you, our readers, too! Cheers to the next 20.
