History - The Beauty Ed

The Eras

Fresh out of uni in London, Donna sent her C.V. to a handful of magazine editors and quickly secured her first internship at Company Magazine.
Donna worked as an intern for about a year, and after impressing her bosses, a permanent role was created: Fashion & Beauty Assistant.
“Dear Donna” was Donna’s first beauty column. It was in a Q&A format – a bit like Ask Me Anything on Instagram – but this was long before social media existed. Literally sackful of questions arrived by post each week!
Donna was invited to exclusive beauty events and travelled on her first overseas press trip to Miami with Fructis, the haircare ranged owned by L’Oreal.
Donna’s experience directing shoots began in 1998 when she travelled to South Africa and LA for her first magazine cover shoots.

Donna was promoted to Deputy Beauty Editor at Company Magazine.
In 2001, Donna was head-hunted and hired as Beauty Editor on CosmoGIRL! – the teenage sister version of Cosmopolitan.
CosmoGIRL! was the first print magazine to launch a website simultaneously, and Donna began working as a multi-platform Beauty Editor.
Blogs were born, and Donna’s first beauty blog was credited in British Vogue as ‘one to watch.’
Donna’s fresh, authentic and joyful approach to beauty writing and shoot direction was sought by magazines like Grazia, Stylist and InStyle.
Hired as Contributing Beauty Editor at InStyle Magazine, Donna interviewed celebrities about their beauty routines.
Donna was head-hunted to launch the beauty pages of the UK’s most read Sunday newspaper supplement, Fabulous Magazine.
Donna was awarded the coveted Johnson & Johnson Award for Best Beauty Editor on a National Newspaper.
TV came calling and Donna was hired as expert on ITV’s TV series – Help! I’m A Teen Mum.

With a growing contact book in the beauty PR and creative sectors, Donna was approached to consult and strategize for household brands like L’Oreal, Nivea and Tampax.
The British drugstore chain Boots hired Donna to direct their first ‘unretouched’ in-store magazine cover.
After the cover’s success, Donna was appointed Beauty Director at Boots UK, where she stayed for 5 years and directed over 100 beauty shoots.
Donna directed and organized four 12-crew beauty shoots to Mexico, Jamaica, The Maldives and Miami.
Donna grew the content offering at Boots Health & Beauty magazine by doubling the pagination.
At the same time, Donna’s Instagram account began to grow and her Beauty On The School Run series which saw her review beauty products in her car, became a massive hit.
About Time magazine listed Donna as one of the Top 10 Women To Watch in the fashion and beauty industry.

Donna’s social media grew to 50k on Tik Tok and Instagram and The Beauty Ed brand is born.
Alexandra Shulman, the renowned ex-Editor of British Vogue, describes Donna as ‘cheerfully inspiring’ The Daily Mail.
Donna is granted the extremely hard to get American 01 Extraordinary Ability Visa for her exemplary work in the beauty industry.
Donna founded The Beauty Ed Inc and her content creation business grew on both sides of the Atlantic.
HELLO! appoints Donna as the American Beauty Editor At Large where she writes a weekly column.
Smiling Gives You Wrinkles, Donna’s podcast launches its first season with amazing reviews in newspapers like The Daily Mail and The Sun.
Donna is hired to become a keynote speaker for media outlets and brands on topics like positive aging, menopause and sobriety.
Donna regularly contributes to The Sun, The Daily Mail, Refinery 29 and HELLO!
Donna’s brand presence grows and she is looking forward to nurturing more authentic partnerships with global brands that she loves.