Freelance Beauty Journalist for Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle; Strategic Advisor; Content Creator
Janna Mandell is a San Francisco Bay Area-based writer covering everything beauty – innovative companies, runway and industry trends, disrupting indie brands, the green beauty movement, and the spa industry. 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
E.L.F. Turns Spotlight on Its Biggest Fans
Indie brand credits success to loyal fanbase, social media, and "girlfriend-to-girlfriend" effect
Reporter experiences how makeup artist interprets runway trends for the every day woman.
Backstage beauty notes from 10 top fashion shows
NEW YORK - Skin was the star again this season with models' faces that looked scrubbed clean until they caught the bright lights on the New York Fashion Week runways, revealing...
Tata Harper is comfortable in her skin
The first thing you'll notice about Tata Harper is her ethereal, glowing complexion. Harper's eponymous skin-care line, adored by celebrities and beauty editors, is known for...
Credo a showcase for natural beauty
When Shashi Batra, founder of new beauty boutique Credo in Pacific Heights, talks about Credo's featured brands his face lights up and he transforms into a proud parent. A...
You don’t need to travel far for a relaxing, rejevenating spa day
3 Must-Have Beauty Treatments for New York Fashion Week
Not all members of the media and attendees and of New York Fashion Week strut from their trendy apartments in recently gentrified neighborhoods on Day 1 rearing to go. Some of...
Planning the Perfect "I F'd Up" Romantic Wine Country Weekend
You really did it this time... It doesn't matter if it was going away for a boys' weekend on her birthday or drunkenly flirting with her friend at a party, you're going to need...
Best Bay Area Beauty Finds (Cover Story)
From manis to massages, brows to braids, stylish insiders share their top recommendations of transformative services and top practitioners: Jeannie Jarnot is founder and CEO of...
Silicon Valley stylist takes clients beyond the hoodie
Damon Schechter emerges from the dressing room at Denim & Soul on Union wearing olive green cords, plaid shirt, cashmere hoodie and a denim shirt as a jacket and exclaims, "I...
5 Slightly Passive-Aggressive Gifts for Him
Sure, he may have put a signed basketball from Steph Curry and a Beer of the Month Club on his wish list, but really, does he "need" those things? Is he actually going to admire...
Kristina Holey brings pioneering French massage technique to S.F.
BRUSHING UP ON SKIN CARE AT NEW S.F. HQ
2-year-old Foreo launched itself with a sonic facial brush, and now offers a line of cleansers
Michele Holmes brings an expert eye, gentle products to tame, tease or transform eyebrows
Put your best face forward: Our favorite facials
Getting a facial can be a bit intimidating. It's like using an online dating site - you know people who swear by it and others who have been burned. Or perhaps you've actually...
Cover Story: MEET THE NEXT GENERATION OF NATURAL BEAUTY PRODUCTS
Making similar decisions about the cosmetics and skin care you put on your body, however, has traditionally been more difficult, with fuzzy terminology and little industry...
Beauty Addicts Anonymous: We Admit We Are Powerless Over Gift with Purchase Events
Late at night when I should be sleeping, but instead I am trying to rack up $150 in product purchases to qualify for Neiman Marcus's Gift with Purchase, I wonder if there could...
Cover Story: KOREA EXPORTS A BEAUTY CRAZE
Youthful nation obsessed with perfect skin pioneers innovative products with a playful touch
N.Y. Fashion Week's makeup artists let cosmetics multitask
At Marc by Marc Jacobs, noted makeup artist Diane Kendal used Marc Jacobs Beauty Lip Lock Moisture Balm as a highlighter to accentuate models' cheekbones and eye contours. $24,...
Benefit Cosmetics traces its success to being born in S.F.
Talk to any employee at Benefit Cosmetics' Bush Street headquarters or Bay Area boutiques and you can expect to hear about the "DNA of the brand" as well as its motto, "Laughter...