Freelance Beauty Journalist for Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle; Strategic Advisor; Content Creator
Janna Mandell is a San Francisco Bay Area-based Strategic Advisor and journalist covering everything beauty: innovative companies, runway and industry trends, disrupting indie brands, the green beauty movement, and the spa industry. She has been called a trendspotter by industry peers for her early coverage of trends like the Korean beauty craze and the natural beauty boom years before hitting the mainstream. In her reporting, she has interviewed everyone from CEOs to celebrity makeup artists to Gwyneth Paltrow. Janna has written several in-depth company profiles for Forbes and the S.F. Chronicle on companies like Benefit Cosmetics, e.l.f., and FOREO. Janna has also created marketing content for Kendo brands Marc Jacobs Beauty and Kat Von D as well as acted as a strategic consultant for other companies. Previously, she was an executive on Wall Street, running strategy, business development and sales for an electronic trading company.
Portfolio
Are next-generation fast beauty brands worth the hype?
Before the days of Instagram's #Instastories and r/MakeupAddiction on Reddit, young women got their makeup inspiration from glossy magazines and the local beauty counter. The...
How Botnia skin-care line started in Sausalito founder's backyard
When Botnia skin-care founder Justine Kahn and her husband bought their home in Sausalito in 2010, it was a "contractor's special" to say the least. The house was leaning to one...
Summer skin-care solutions by microclimate
Summer weather in the Bay Area means different things depending on where you live - cold and dreary in the city, foggy and windy in Mill Valley and scorching everywhere else. If...
Spas embrace cannabis-infused massage rituals
It takes a second for your eyes to adjust when you enter Earthbody, a day spa in Hayes Valley. Once you've settled on the dimly lit pillowed banquette, a spa employee brings you...
Saks Fifth Avenue Rolls The Dice By Moving Beauty Department Off Ground Floor
Talk to any beauty-product enthusiast and she probably has an early memory of her first visit to the beauty floor at her local department store. Stepping in from the drab...
Tatcha CEO's book takes a beauty lesson from the geisha culture
Victoria Tsai, founder and CEO of San Francisco beauty brand Tatcha, wants you to forget everything you learned from the best-selling book "Memoirs of a Geisha." The Harvard...
The Alchemist And The Scientist: How Strange Bedfellows Created The Future Of Skincare
The first thing you notice when you open the door to luxury botanical skincare brand In Fiore's studio and showroom in San Francisco is the scent - otherworldly yet grounded,...
Strand Equity Declares 'Youth To The People' With Minority Investment
Los Angeles-based vegan skincare company Youth to the People (YTTP) announced today they received a minority investment from private equity firm Strand Equity, also based in Los...
L'Oreal Says 'In Your Face' To Competition With Strategic Acquisition
French cosmetics giant L'Oreal SA announced today it will acquire Toronto-based ModiFace, a creator of augmented reality and artificial intelligence for beauty brands like MAC...
Glossier Just Got $52 Million In Fresh Capital, Bringing Total Funding To $86 Million
Millennial-favorite beauty brand Glossier is about to make a whole lot more "meaningful connections." The New York-based startup announced today that the direct-to-consumer...
Why Amazon Isn't Ready To Dominate Beauty (Yet)
Reading through recent headlines about Amazon disrupting the beauty industry, one would think that it's time for Sephora and Ulta to panic and rethink their strategies. Yes, I...
Cannabis Could Be The Most Profitable Ingredient In Skincare, If The U.S. Government Allows It
Lord Jones co-founder Cindy Capobianco describes her luxury cannabis-infused product business in much the same manner as any maker of a prestige natural skincare brand: it's...
The Demonizing Of Essential Oils: How A Skincare Launch Started A Witch Hunt Against Natural Beauty
When Kristina Holey and Marie Veronique Nadeau launched their skincare line, they found themselves in a vortex of negative attention around natural beauty. Find out how the...
Beauty Goes Green (Cover Story)
Navigating the Green Beauty Trend
Clean beauty swaps: It's time to go nontoxic
Gone are the days of having to give up performance to swap out a conventional beauty product for a nontoxic option. Thanks to recent innovations from "green" chemistry and rapid...
Juice Beauty Backer Spreads Message of Clean Cosmetics
Julie Lynge's facial massage targets jaw pain and adds a rejuvenating lift
Bite Lip Lab offers possibility of that perfect shade
Looking through the windows of the Bite Beauty Lip Lab on Fillmore, you might mistake the lip boutique for a candy store. The shelves are lined with jars full of brightly hued...
Neve & Hawk combines creativity and commerce
On a recent Saturday morning at Neve & Hawk in San Anselmo, the boutique's namesakes are making themselves at home. The owners' 9-year-old daughter, Neve, is working the...