Alexis Wolfer is a beauty expert and feminist, whose online magazine, TheBeautyBean.com, was named one of Forbes Magazine’s Top 10 websites for women. She is also the author of The Recipe for Radiance, which was released this month. Alexis been featured on E!, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, Oprah.com, CNN.com and now — sherights.com!

Your background is in women’s studies and rights. How did you transition from that field to beauty and health?

I wrote my graduate thesis on women’s magazines and their influence on body image and eating disorders, something I had struggled with in my past. It was then that I realized that the right to love ourselves is the ultimate woman’s right and I wanted to do all I could to ensure women were empowered to treat themselves with love and respect. Combining that with my background in women’s fashion/beauty editorial, I started TheBeautyBean.com, an online women’s magazine designed to provide women with a place to get all their lifestyle content in an empowering way. I want to be the voice of women who enjoy makeup, but don’t define their worth by it.

Beauty isn’t about having perfect skin or a button nose or wearing a certain size jeans. Yet so many of us grow up thinking it is. Think about the women in your life who you think are most beautiful… they radiate from within. Given my mission to empower women to realize their “Real Beauty” – I wanted to make it abundantly clear to readers that this book isn’t telling you that you’re anything less than gorgeous just the way you are. And it’s definitely not telling you that you need these secrets in order to be beautiful. Beauty, though, to me, is about living a beautiful life, treating your body with love and respect, and owning your self-worth and this book is all about giving you the tools to eat beautifully and beautify healthfully.

Beauty is just as much about the things we do and the issues we stand for as it is about taking care of our bodies and playing with makeup. TheBeautyBean.com honors all those things. Moreover, I want to show women that you can love trying out the latest hair styles or staying up to date on the newest makeup trends and still be a feminist who cares about the larger issues that impact women. I am that woman.

Wow. This is tough. I am torn between Gloria Steinem, because of her impact on women’s media and the way the she brought femininity/beauty/fashion to the feminist movement, making it more accessible to some, and Eve Ensler, who takes tough-as-shit topics to talk about and makes them real and accessible. The Vagina Monolgues are earth shattering. Bottom line, at my “if you could have dinner with 8 people living or dead who would they be?” game, they’d both be there!

Categories: Spotlight

Tags: Alexis Wolfer, beauty, Body image, Eating disorder, Feminist, The Beauty Bean