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Tatty Devine – The British Duo of Fashion Accessory Design

Tatty Devine – The British Duo of Fashion Accessory Design

Tatty Devine was created in 1999. It is a unique and quirky accessory line. Rosie Wolfenden and Harriet Vine are the brains behind the successful jewelry designs. The company is based in Great Britain, and the two designers have no formal training as jewelers. Harriet and Rose met at Chelsea School of Art back in 1996. They had planned to become artists, but Harriet found some leather samples on the way home from the pub one night. She proceeded to make some leather cuffs. She and Rosie sold them at Portabello and Spitalfields markets—and Tatty Devine was born.

Harvey Nichols bought their accessories, then Browns, Focus, and Vogue Magazine took notice. Tatty Devine premiered their first official collection at London Fashion Week Spring, 2001. They have since shown their collection at Paris Fashion Week, and showcased in Berlin and New York, as well as having over 100 retail outlets worldwide.

I interviewed the British pair on their recent jaunt to LA and was thrilled to be given my own private showing of Tatty Devine’s collection.

“We express ourselves in everything we make. When we were in college, we did paintings—it’s all about the idea, and we were incubated in this conceptual cocoon. When we left college, we just hung out together, and all of our ideas and esthetics were really similar—we just started makingstuff.” —Harriet Vine and Rosie Wolfenden—

Harriet – It was just a series of fabulous events that just snowballed. You know, Rose was working at a vintage shop, and a woman from Vogue came in, and was just like, “Oh my gosh, I love that thing that you’re wearing. I really need it for my Millennium shot.” Then Rose had the audacity to say, “I made it myself. It’s from my company.” You know, so that was on Friday, and on Monday, we took to her … our …. It hadn’t existed on Friday!

Rosie – We made our collection on that weekend to take to Vogue. So we were just messing around having a really fun summer after college, visiting all the markets.

Harriet – We had no real desire to be fashion designers. We just wanted to be artists, to get studios, public views, and hang out with other artists. I guess if I had been a fashion student, I would have been really shy; but because I just didn’t really care, I admitted I made it myself.

Oh yeah, because you don’t have a reason to be afraid because you don’t really know what you’re doing anyway (laughs).

Harriet walked by a furniture store one night. They had thrown out all their leather sample booklets of every color, texture, and print—14 bins worth. Harriet dragged them all home; they were perfect size twenty centimeters by twenty centimeters, which is the size of your wrist. We had ostrich skin and purple; we had snakeskin and blue; zebra skin and pink. Harriet just cut them up into wristbands.

Harriet – It was just before the whole eighties thing.

Rosie – So we took it to a market store, and everyone [loved them]. They sold for 5 and 10 pounds each.

They were just flying off the racks.

At first actually, people asked, “What is this? What do you do with it?” We told them theywere wristbands. It took a little while, but within a month there were three other stands selling the same thing, but they could only afford to buy white leather.

See that is a good thing. When someone is copying you, that is the highest possible compliment. That is when you say, “O.K., I am doing something right.” Tell me about your designs.

We’re kind of fascinated with history and fossils and dinosaurs. Apart from that, we really like the way the dinosaur necklace is made up of about 70 pieces. And each one is a bone from the dinosaur. They’re individually drilled, and we put our beads on individually. Sometimes we have to get them special order. Whenever I wear this [necklace], everyone is [in awe]. In London, people save up so they can buy it because they love it so much. We must have sold about 600 of these now.

It’s called the dinosaur necklace?

Yeah. That’s my favorite. Everything we care to make is in limited edition quantities. Welaser everything that gets mass made. We couldn’t make thousands of anything.

Do you have letters of authenticity with your jewelry?

Well, that’s a really good idea because they do that in Singapore and Japan.

I’m sure they’ve got collector’s value. Down the line it could be worth something.

In Britain we don’t have to do it because everyone knows. Until recently they’d come to our shop and they’d watch the jewelry getting made. But I think letters of authenticity would be a very nice touch.

What are the materials you used to make these?

[In addition to other things], we used acrylic because it gives us the freedom to be very literal in our designs. We use [a variety of] wood, leather, solid silver, and Swarzsky Crystals. Then we create the drawings in the computer, which later goes into a [special] machine, which cuts out our drawings. It’s really nice. It’s like cookie cutters.

But it’s taken awhile to come up with such a smooth process, right? A lot of trial and error?

At first it was leather cuffs and then we moved on to hand cut leather shapes, and then we’d sew crystals on things. It’s like writing a Christmas list.

You’re actually setting a trend. And you guys really know how to market yourself. Do you think that has something to do with your success?

Up until a year ago, we were answering the phones. We were writing the press releases, trying to organize everything. My God, we nearly went mad. We’re finding liberation and now we’ve got 10 employees.

Tell me your highest high as jewelry designers.

When we got into Fashion Week, it was big. Every day something new comes along. I like that initial time of going to Vogue Magazine. That was quite amazing. It seems so crazy. We were like just two Indie kids—we were only 21..

What did your parents think about all this?

Rosie – My mum asked me what was I going to do when I finish college. [My parents] were a bit scared, because my parents were both self-employed and Harriet’s parents were always doing projects. Both of our parents are entrepreneurs. It never occurred to me to have a desk job. Not that I’d come into any money or anything, but I always thought I’d find my way.

Have you ever had any disappointments?

Not really. The biggest downer we had was when we participated in the Designers and Agents Show—it’s a trade show. We did it and it was great. And then we applied to do it again and we weren‘t accepted, which is annoying because we wanted to come over here. It wasn’t quite right. Because there’s nothing else quite like it. It’s really hard.

What advice would you give an aspiring entrepreneur?

You have to have a belief in yourself and have some interesting stuff. It’s not good enough just wanting to make jewelry. You’ve got to be interesting and have a lot of cool stuff, and have original ideas. Because it’s so dull seeing something that’s copied. Seeing something original really does just make my heart skip a beat. It’s lovely. And I think that’s what’s really important with our designs—they were just so fresh. You’ve really got to have faith in yourself, have no fear, and be prepared not to have any money for a while. We started with absolutely nothing. We started at zero, and months later we [earned] 200 pounds. And then we bought some more leather and then we sold it … and then we had 400 pounds. We never had a proper job, so we didn’t know what money was.

You didn’t know what to charge?

You really must be prepared for the fact that it takes a long time before you can really have a life. You just make jewelry all the time. You have to be prepared to work really hard; but to enjoy working really hard, have passion. And just like having initiative, I guess.

You guys are hard wired for business. I think it’s just in you. You’re artists, but you’re hardwired to be entrepreneurs, leaders.

I think entrepreneurship is a really creative thing. There’s business and then there’s being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is the creative side of business. Because business really is creative. You can manipulate and point it to any direction you want.

To learn more about Tatty Devine and their collections, visitwww.tattydevine.com.

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

Merrell McGuinness Handbags – Making the Functional Handbag Fashionable

Merrell McGuinness Handbags – Making the Functional Handbag Fashionable

“I was working in a 9-5, and the only bags they had to carry were in black. They were so unattractive. All the beautiful designer bags that I loved were either too short, not wide enough, or didn’t have enough pockets.”
—Merrell McGuinness—

Handbag designer Merrell McGuinness received her inspiration in fashion from her mother’s (Marilyn Hubbard) vintage collection. Ever since Merrell was a child, she insisited on expressing her own personal style. At age 3, she wore fur-trimmed beige leather boots to preschool—not at all uncharasteristic of the years that followed. Both women’s (Merrell and her mother) creative backgrounds and love of all things beautiful was the impetus of Merrell’s intuitive designs. Once she started designing her handbags, word spread quickly by word of mouth, and orders flooded in. Merrell, while holding down a full-time job, and maintaining a growing business, realized the need for a functional bag that still expressed a personal style. She succeeded in creating a leather handbag system that had style, comfort, and functionality, clearly meeting the needs of a busy woman’s lifestyle. Since its inception, Merrell Handbags have been featured in Lucky Magazine, Atlanta Peach, Splendora, Daily Candy, AOL: Style List, Chip Chick, Fashion Newspaper, WWD, and more…

Your focus was to make handbags more functional for women?

I was working in corporate America, and I never really had a way to channel it. With designing handbags, I never really had a background in it, but felt like I studied them from a consumer standpoint. I was working in a 9-5, so to say, and the only bags they had to carry were in black. They were so unattractive, and so the idea came … all the beautiful designer bags that I love were either too short, not wide enough, or not enough pockets, so I did a lot of things [that had not been done before.]

What were some of those things?

Our signature layered piping in the front. That was inspired when I was outside in the country with the symmetry and the lines in the country. Two layers of piping is not ground breaking, but the way it is laid out is kind of unique. Some of the pockets on the front, we even had to take the pockets off some of the bags because it was too mystical to the pockets and it wasn’t feeling right. Our “Sarah Clutch“… that’s definitely unique. The “Margaret” bag has a very functional wallet inside the bag.

How long have you been designing bags?

It’s been a three-year research process trying to figure out how I wanted to make them, and last spring was our first season.

How has it been going since you’ve been selling your bags?

It’s gone so well. People respond to it and say, “It’s a great idea! I love the detail.”

I think you really accomplished what it is you set out to do. Because I just opened the box and I thought the bag was beautiful…like the choice of leather, the coloring … there’s a lot of texture, and the look of it.

Thank you, for spring we went with a very neutral color pallet, and for fall we went with a much darker color pallet. We have 44 stores that are listed online, and one that’s in California (La Jolla). People can definitely buy it online.

What direction do you see your bags going in for this [fall] season?

We have the “Raquel” and the “Eloise” design, and they are inspired by vintage bags from the 60s. But they also have the 40s feel to them. I was just keeping it a clean line, simple, but interesting shape.

Sounds like you had a pretty good job before. Was it a struggle for you to quit your job?

I am doing handbags full time, and it wasn’t a hard decision. I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew. Once we really got into full swing, I realized that I never really liked being in a cubicle. It was really challenging, but great. My husband asked me when [my designs]were going to make a profit. It’s been very interesting. I’ve taken a lot of risks, but I have also seen a lot rewards.

Where do you see Merrell Bags in five years?

Well, I see Neiman … the whole 9 yards … expanding through wholesale channels.

To learn more about Merrell Handbags, visit the website:www.merrellbags.com.

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

Tattoos, Fashion, and Rock ‘n’ Roll

Talking Chic
Tattoos, Fashion, and Rock ‘n’ Roll

The skin is the largest organ of the body. So for me, accessorizing certain areas of my skin with colorful ink seems to be an obvious part of expressing myself. But what about the social stigmas attached to the tattooed subculture of men and women? Or, the most commonly asked question, “What will happen when you’re older?” Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion regarding body modification, be it tattoos, piercings, or even plastic surgery. However, I am proud to know that a solar system of stars stretches from my right hip to below my navel, where my name “Elana” sits in Old English. I also love having a yin-yang also sitting on my lower back, reminding me that the highs and lows of life combine to create a beautiful existence.

I prefer to place my tattoos in discreet places, regions where I can show them off when the time calls for it. Wearing a bikini by the pool or at the beach makes me feel oh so sexy. Lounging around in low-waist sweats and a midriff tank with my boyfriend makes me feel comfy and cute. But that’s me.

As for those out there who have adorned their skin with tons of pop art, personal portraits, pin-up ladies, and names of their loved ones for all the world to see, I praise your bravery. In my eyes, the tattoos that have been permanently imprinted on a person’s body are merely an extension of that person’s style, the season, a time, or a reason. Just as a pair of vintage kitten heels passed from a grandmother to her granddaughter stands for a memorable era, a tattoo depicting this very time period might also carry the same meaning. A granddaughter can show her love for her grandmother by either keeping the shoes forever or tattooing a specific memoir on her skin forever.

Although I may not choose to display my body art to the public on every occasion—you’ll notice my leopard heels before you catch any glimpse of my tattoos—I can’t help but feel in awe of people who take tattooing to a whole new level.

Such as Kat Von D!

This 25-year-old tattoo artist grew up in the Inland Empire of Southern California, starred on the reality television show “Miami Ink” on TLC as the shop’s only female employee, and eventually scored her own show and shop “LA Ink.” Although, I am more impressed with her entrepreneurial spirit, rock ‘n’roll vibe, and her insane platform heels than simply her massive number of tattoos, I enjoy seeing a soft-hearted gal committed to her clients and staying passionate about the art of tattooing. With stars lining alongside her temple and, if you look quickly enough, tattoos underneath her chin, the most common thought might be: Why would she do that to herself ?

I say, “Why not?”

Elana Pruitt (www.talkingchic.com)

Trapped Inside the Story Leslie Cohen

Trapped Inside the Story
Leslie Cohen

Trapped Inside the Story is so good I predict a bestseller! Written by Leslie Cohen, it is the historical biography of Holocaust survivor Naomi Kalsky, born Sonya Hebenstreit.

The biography opens with Sonya Hebenstreit, seven years old, Jewish, living in Poland during the Russian occupation in 1941. Her family, along with the rest of the people of Lvov, Poland, have struggled throughout the 1930s because of the Great Depression. Before the Depression, Sonya’s father, Israel, had owned his own bakery, but now he works for someone else. Then comes the Nazi invasion, and the Russian Communists leave, inviting any of the people to emigrate to Russia. Sonya’s family, unable to afford the cost of relocating, is soon at the mercy of the Nazis, who have now taken over.

Sonya’s story is told in the genre of the fairy tale—and they lived happily ever after, generally—because of the heroine’s love of fairy tales. As a child, she reveled in the stories of the Ukrainian housekeeper, Zoshka; and the heroes of those stories became her friends. Then, she learned to read herself and read all of the fairy tales she could get her hands on.

Sonya is the oldest of three children. She has a younger sister, Rosa, and a baby brother, Emmanuel. First, her father disappears. He was taken by the Germans and made to work. He manages to escape, but when he returns home, he is fatally ill. Next, her mother disappears, having gone to “volunteer” her services now that her husband is too ill. She never returns. Sonya, the oldest, is left now to take care of her father, her younger sister, and her baby brother. Finding food for everyone and milk for the baby becomes the hardest thing for Sonya.

Soon her father dies, and twelve-year-old Sonya, unable to escape her fate, continues to feed and take care of the family she has left. Emmanuel becomes ill, and in spite of herself, she has to leave him in what passes for a clinic in hopes he recovers. She never sees him again. Finally, Rosa disappears in a roundup while Sonya is away searching for food.

Due to her ingenuity, her fairy tale friends, and the non-Jews who help her in spite of the repercussions if discovered, she manages to evade capture by the Germans; and to survive, as she must, she does whatever survival dictates. Dealing on the Black Market and stealing from apartments that have been abandoned by families taken in roundups are the worst until she has to pretend she’s a Gentile, abandoning her faith. Her fairy tale friends, however, assure her she must do what she must to survive. And always, the hope of seeing her mother, her sister Rosa, and her brother Emmanuel again keeps her going.

She likens the occupation of the Germans to a fairy tale, inside which she is trapped, unable to escape, a fairy tale in which the bad guys win; and again the reader witnesses the atrocities the Jews suffer at the hands of the Nazis and at the hands of some of the non-Jews, mostly because they fear the punishment if discovered befriending or otherwise being kind to Jews. Yet, just as in other stories of the Holocaust, there are those who risk their lives to help the Jews, and this, too, adds to the pathos of the biography.

Not since The Diary of Anne Frank or Elie Wiesel’s Night have I been so touched by the memories of the Holocaust. An orphan now, the thing she feared most, having seen in her fairy tales and in school how orphans were treated, Sonya cries: “I’m an orphan—like some of the heroes in fairy tales I’m like a character in a story. It’s as if I’m trapped inside a horror story––a story so strange, so far-fetched, and so nightmarish that it can only be a fairy tale” (114).

Originally, there were 100,000 Jews in Lvov. Along came the Russian occupation. Then, on June 22, 1941, with the news of the German invasion, about 10,000 Jews left Lvov with the Russian army. On June 29, the German army entered Lvov. In July German soldiers and Ukrainian nationalists began to murder Jews on the streets, and by August 3, 4,000 Jews had been murdered. At the end of the war, there were only 600 Jews left, Sonya, fourteen or fifteen years old now, one of them, the only member of her family left.

Book Reviewed by Lee L. Peoples

Published by Level 4 Press, Inc.
13518 Jamul Drive
Jamul, CA 91935
www.level4press.com
ISBN: 978-1-933769-16-5

Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides

Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides

Wow! What a book! Jeffrey Eugenides, in telling the story of Calliope/Cal Stephanides, has written a Greek epic, much on the order of Homer’s The Iliad. Calliope in Greek Mythology was the muse of epic poetry. Webster defines an “epic” as a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero. Only with the help of the muse could the author pull off this manipulation of point of view from first person, with Calliope, the heroine, and later, Cal, the hero, as narrator, to third person omniscient: “I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.” And it is “at the age of forty-one,” Cal says, “I feel another birth coming on” (3):

“Sing now, O Muse, of the recessive mutation on my fifth chromosome! Sing how it bloomed two and a half centuries ago on the slopes of Mount Olympus, while the goats bleated and the olives dropped. Sing how Providence, in the guise of a massacre, sent the gene flying again; how it blew like a seed across the sea to America, where it drifted through our industrial rains until it fell to earth in the fertile soil of my mother’s own Midwestern womb” (3-4).

In Greek mythology, it was believed that it was the muse Calliope, who, as one of the nine beautiful daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory), enables the epic poet to relate things legendary or historical that only the muse could know. And it is for this reason, Calliope/Cal is able to reach all the way back to her/his immigrant grandparents as possibly the origin of, or rather an explanation for, their “hermaphroditism.” (Today, the politically correct term is “intersex.”) … thus, Calliope’s/Cal’s knowledge of her/his Greek immigrant grandparents. And it was the muse, also, who enabled her/him to narrate as a fetus and before that, as an egg lying in wait to be fertilized.

If credence is to be given to superstition, her/his condition as a hermaphrodite begins with her/his grandparents Desdemona and Eleutherios (“Lefty”) Stephanides. In the war with the Turks in the early Twentieth Century, their homeland is destroyed, and their parents are killed. Desdemona and Eleutherios (“Lefty”) migrate to America and settle in Detroit. But … on the voyage over, they, brother and sister, unnaturally in love with each other, marry; and for quite some time, keep their secret. Years later, their son marries his cousin…. Their first child, a son, is born. Then, Calliope, their second child is born, and it is not until years later that an aberration in her anatomy is detected. It is at this time that surgery is recommended to remove the male parts of her anatomy, but she refuses. Thus, she begins a journey of self discovery in which she ends up as Cal.

Hermaphroditism—the correct term is intersex— is a subject until recently, almost never talked about; and until Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel was chosen by Oprah as her book club selection this summer, very few knew anything about this subject. And true to its epic genre, Calliope and Cal are true heroes in their acceptance of their differences and their triumphs over the obstacles they face in their unique situation. Until “Oprah,” I had never accorded any truth to the myth: Hermaphroditus: in Greek Mythology, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who became united in body with the nymph Salmacis. So not only was it an eye opener to learn there are intersex people living quite normal, happy lives, but it was also an enjoyable, suspenseful read. I will admit to some difficulty at the beginning in accepting the omniscient first person narrator, but when I realized Eugenides was writing in the Homeric epic style, using the ubiquitous, omniscient muse, my problem was solved.

Reviewed by Lee L. Peoples

ISBN-13:978-0-312-42773-3
ISBN-10:0-312-42773-5

Reviewed by Lee L. Peoples

Raechel Cunningham – Aesthetician / spa owner – NY

The Beauty Agenda
Aesthetician and Spa Owner, Raechel Cunningham of New York Laser

Raechel Cunningham is a licensed aesthetician and the director at New York Laser & Aesthetics, located in the center of Manhattan. Raechel is a highly motivated aesthetician with extensive knowledge in the Skin Care industry. She is a graduate of Florida College of Natural Health, where she received an A.S. in Natural Health and obtained courses in both Aesthetics and Massage Therapy. Raechel has extensive experience in various Laser Treatments such as IPL, Laser Hair Removal, Laser Vascular Treatments, and Photo Facials. Raechel’s non-laser experience includes facial treatments, microdermabrasions, enzyme and acid peels, pre-/post-operative skin care, hair removal, camouflage make-up, anatomy and physiology, and nutrition of the skin.

“New York Laser & Aesthetics is a skin spa. We provide skin care solutions to our clients that serve to aid in the promotion and preservation of a healthy, beautiful skin appearance by using well-researched skin care products and treatments. Since not all skin care treatments work the same on people, we offer our clients an assortment of the most up-to-date skincare practices for the best possible results. “

—Raechel Cunningham—

Tell me about your spa.

We’re right off 5th Avenue, next to the Plaza. And when you walk into the spa, you’re greeted like you’re in a home/waiting room with a nice couch, flat screen TV, and music playing. We wanted to create a very comforting environment. We sell skin care products here with our organic skin care products called Imminent. I like to combine laser treatment with organic skincare.

What kind of laser treatments do you provide?

Laser hair removal (FDA approved machine); we also do photo facials for sun damage, hyper pigmentation due to hormones or the sun; we do skin tightening, and one of my fortes is laser vascular therapy.

What does laser skin tightening entail?

You come in and show us the areas that are bothering you. I come up with these things called vector points. The laser’s going to focus on tightening. The laser puts out an infrared heat source, which heats up collagen on the dermal layer. Collagen is lying on the surface under your skin in little coils. This treatment creates those coils to tighten up, and it almost kills them; but you’re not having any burns on the surface of your skin. You have nothing that looks like you had anything that was done. In 3-4 weeks when the dead collagen cells reach the surface, they come off; and your body senses that you have a wound, so it starts promoting new collagen at a very quick rate. After the second treatment, you really start to see results and a fifty percent improvement. So someone who’s not ready for plastic surgery, if you have a lot of fatty tissues under the skin like somebody’s neck or jaw line, skin tightening isn’t going to work as well as it would with somebody with hanging or crappy skin. When somebody also has spider veins, the laser also targets the spider veins, like legs, red vessels on their face, nose, cheeks….

Do you know what causes spider veins?

It’s basically a lot of pressure on the legs. And the veins that are responsible for moving the blood along have so much pressure that they start forming all these little veins that help search for new channels so they can handle the pressure more effectively. Sometimes we treat the veins, and they might come back in other areas. Somebody would probably need to see a doctor if that happened.

The treatments last for how long?

With the vein treatments, if they go away and your body doesn’t produce more veins, it can be permanent; or they may come back in the same area. It just depends on once we close those little channels, your veins still have those pressures, so it may form new ones. People get great results here. People we did a year ago still don’t have new veins. It can last for quite a few years. The same thing with all the hyper pigmentation, all the treatments I do here take a few treatments; but once they’re gone, the only way they’ll come back is if you’re doing things to cause them to return.

Laser hair removal, is it a better method than electrolysis?

It is a better method, but whether you’re doing electrolysis or whether you’re doing laser hair removal, there are three phases of hair growth. These are things as a consumer you wouldn’t know. It’s very easy to misunderstand or get talked into buying something. So what I’m trying to do is explain that there’s the one phase of hair growth. It’s called antegin and that’s when the actual hair is attached to the pila. That’s what develops the hair. So when you do electrology or laser or anything that delivers heat into the pore, it has to conduct to the follicle so that it damages it, [keeping it] from making any new hair. You’re only in this phase for a short period of time. You can be receiving the treatment, your hair may fall out, but you’re still going to have hair grow in. So that’s why with laser hair removal, we try to promote it in packages of six. That’ll give me enough time to get all the hairs that are in that “right” phase. With laser you can do a larger surface area in quicker amounts of time and you’re not risking inserting a needle and probing into a hair follicle, putting too much heat in that follicle and creating a dark spot—I see it happen a lot. I also went to school for electrology so I am very familiar with how that works, and I definitely think laser hair removal is a better way to go.

In your professional opinion, is the laser hair removal actually permanent?

It is permanent, but if I did it to you and you were in that phase of antegin, which is the growth phase, your hair’s going to fall out and not grow for a month; and then it’s going to start to grow. So it is permanent, but you have to have the right amount of treatments.

How long have you been doing this?

I’ve been doing this for over eleven years. 1996, I started doing manicures and pedicures. I was working in a spa where they gave facials, and I was interested, so I went to school to learn that. And I had been a licensed aesthetician for almost eight years. I am originally from Florida. I’ve been working for a dermatologist most of my career, so I have a lot of experience in corrective skin care. I moved to NY about a year and a half ago. I worked for a large laser company chain. I decided to quit and work for a plastic surgeon who was really adamant about being partners with me and opening up a spa. So I pretty much did, and here I am. I have a partner who owns the place, and I pretty much run it and have a small share of the business myself. I was very lucky. It’s not like a regular spa. I wanted to run it like a doctor’s office, so far as the treatments that I offer, but still very relaxing, like you’re at somebody’s home. I have two rooms: a laser room where I do all the treatments (looks like a doctor’s office), clean and sterile; the other room is where I do all my facials. It’s very personable here.

What are your prices?

Titan Skin Tightening, full face $1,100;Laser Spider Vein Treatment, 30 minutes $400; Laser Hair Removal, Brazilian, $340 per treatment;Cranberry Pomegranate Treatment, $250.

Of all the skin care treatments that claim to do what the laser treatments do, you chose the laser. Why is this the better way to do it?

I chose laser because of all the treatments that I do, the laser is more aggressive (hair removal). It’s kind of a tool of the future. There’s no other tool that lets you do hair removal in a timely manner. I feel like laser is going to be very popular in the future, more so than it is now. As long as you have an FDA approved machine, and you’re trained on it, I think it’s safe as long as the user is licensed and educated in the laser.

Have you ever had a client where there was nothing corrective you could do?

On my level, I have had clients on an aesthetic and cosmetic level where I couldn’t help them. I refer them to a plastic surgeon on staff. I have a dermatologist I refer to.

So in other words, you’re a skin care specialist, not a magician. Any tips you’d like to give to your average female on taking care of her skin?

I reference to laser. If anybody’s contemplating doing laser, they should really do their homework and make sure that where they go is licensed, the people are licensed, and that they have an FDA approved laser to prevent burns or things that could happen that they don’t want to happen. And maintaining at home with a good skin care line that’s good for their skin.

What about acne? Is there a laser that can help that?

There are certain treatments that are called LED lights. They come in different colors. The blue LED light helps to kill the bacteria that’s responsible for causing acne. It’s a temporary treatment. How I handle acne here would be a series of chemical peels and then a laser treatment called laser genesis. It helps kill the bacteria as well.

Can any age do this?

I usually start treating kids from 12-13. I do a mild chemical peel or laser treatment. Hair removal, I like to do it starting from age 16 and up. Do your homework, make sure whoever you go to is really licensed and knowledgeable. I’ve seen a lot of burns and bad things happen to people, and I don’t want that to be something people think about when they think of laser.

You said earlier that you see laser as the treatment of the future. Not that you’re a psychic, but in five years where do you think laser might be?

The technology will be much more advanced. Currently, the FDA regulates how deep the wave lengths go into the skin. I think in the future, maybe the lasers will be able to penetrate a little bit more. I also think that they will be regulated a lot more. Some states are not regulated, and anybody can do them. I think it will be something that will be taken more seriously, but I definitely think the effects of laser will keep improving.

To learn more about New York Laser, visit www.nylaskin.com for before and after shots. If you’re in the New York area, make an appointment with Raechel Cunningham, Director of Operations:

New York Laser & Aesthetics
21 W. 58th Street #1C/D
New York, NY 10019
212-753-SKIN
www.nylaskin.com

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

September

Insights
September

September has always marked the beginning of a new year for me, not only because my birthday falls on the last day of the month, but also because it marks the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. Having raised three children into adulthood, I’ve been conditioned by long practice to be sensitive to the changes in the rhythms and routine that this time of year sparks.

I hope that this is a new beginning, not only for me, but for the world. Will there ever be an end to war and warmongering? Will we ever as civilized beings face that we’ve wrecked and depleted our resources and are continuing to do so? What of the world Karma? What debt are we incurring against the future generations? How can we continue to deface our world and put the least of us in the way of famine, disease, and treacherous warfare (as if warfare could be anything else but treacherous)? How is it that my comfort is at the expense of another’s welfare?

I’m a small splinter in the machine. How do I stop the machine? How do I make my voice heard and declare that I want no more part in a country that goes around killing, killing, and killing with total disregard to the sanctity of life? I want to make a change. I want to change the world. Mahatma Ghandi once stated, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

I have to be the change I seek, so I started making a change. I stopped eating meat. I like animals, and even though I like the taste of meat, I don’t like causing suffering to my fellow creatures. I walk more. The more I walk the less gas I use. I’ve taken yoga. The more I practice yoga, the more I can walk, and the less gas I use. I’ve taken to meditating, chanting, and doing everything I can to be at peace with my family and others I exist with. It’s not enough, but I have distanced myself from the machine.

I believe that if I learn to make peace instead of war, that like the 100th monkey, my habits will rub off on others. What is the story of the 100th monkey? That one monkey on one distant island that learns how to wash his food in some way causes another monkey on a distant far away island to wash his food, no way influenced by the first island.

It really happened in 1952, on the island of Koshima (http://www.dead.net/forum/ what-would-be-answer?page=2). Scientists provided monkeys with sweet potatoes that had been dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the taste of the sweet potatoes, but not the dirt.

One day an adolescent female named Imo discovered that by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream, she could rid herself of the sand. She taught her mother to wash the sweet potatoes. She also taught her playmates, who then taught their mothers this new method.

Gradually, other monkeys on the island learned to wash their sweet potatoes, and all the young monkeys learned to wash sweet potatoes to make them more edible. But for the adults, only those who imitated their children learned how to do this. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.

Then one day, 99 monkeys began washing their sweet potatoes. Later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes. By that evening almost everyone in the tribe had begun washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The hundredth monkey created a momentum that produced an ideological breakthrough!

Written by Lisa Trimarchi

TV Land, Beverly Johnson, Wilhelmina Models, Inc., and Time Warner Cable L.A. Present a New Kind of Modeling Competition – Twenty Somethings Need Not Apply!

TV Land and Wilhelmina Models Present a New Kind of Modeling Competition – Twenty Somethings Need Not Apply!

I guess it’s true what they say: 40 is the new 20. 50 is the new 30 and 60 is the new forty? So why not create a modeling competition for women over 35. After all, we are all getting younger anyway! Beverly Johnson, TV Land, Wilhelmina Models, Inc., and Time Warner Cable Los Angeles promise to deliver the next great supermodel in the new series “She’s Got the Look” set to premiere Spring 2008. The show is being executive produced by Emmy Award Winner Allison Grodner (“Big Brother“, “Blowout“). The winner of the reality series competition will receive a lucrative modeling contract with Wilhelmina Models, Inc.

“This will be an exciting journey across the USA. We are looking for women who embody what every model should, regardless of age, and that is the utmost beauty and confidence.”
—Sean Patterson, President of Wilhelmina—

Agenda Magazine interviewed casting director Andrew Strauser. He gave us his insight on this new kind of modeling competition.

There must be a new market for 30-something models. I know about More Magazine, which caters to 40 and over. What exactly is the market?

There is a growing commercial and print market out there for these women, and we hope that our show will draw attention to it.

Will your model search be anything like America’s Next Top Model,
and are you seeking professionals or amateurs?

ANTM is a fantastic show. While our show is also a modeling competition, in the youth-obsessed society we live in, the fact that we are celebrating women 35 andolder makes this show truly groundbreaking. And yes, we’re open to former professionals or first-timers. If there’s a woman out there who’s interested in auditioning, we’re interested in meeting her!

What is the impetus for the model search? Is it also plus size models, too, or just regular size?

YES! We’re looking for confident, beautiful and sophisticated women of all sizes!

Are there already advertising/marketing contracts set in place for the winners?

Our winner will receive a multi-year contract with the world-famous Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. There is also the potential for a major magazine spread. However, the details of that are still being worked out.

Why do you feel that there is a need for this kind of competition?

In general, there aren’t that many opportunities for woman 35 and over to break into the fashion and television industries. So, with this show we get to break down both those barriers. I’m thrilled to be a part of it. On my casting trips, I’m met with such excitement and enthusiasm from the women all across the country. They all say, “It’s about time!”

How do you think that these types of contests will affect the modeling industry?

It’s hard to say, but I’m hoping that we’ll be able to turn some heads and change some minds. People want to see a reflection of themselves in print and on television, and I hope that our show will help break down some walls in the industry for models 35 and over.

What type of responses have you already received?

We’ve had a great response thus far. We’ve already received thousands of applications from all over the country. Anyone who is interested can log on to www.tvland.com and fill out an application.

What do you foresee as the future of the competition? Will there be
more contests?

You never know how the viewing audience will respond and what’s going to be a hit. But, I truly hope this show resonates with our audience. There are a lot of people who are working tirelessly to ensure that we put together a highly entertaining and positive television series that will showcase exceptional women from around the country in their quest to make a dream come true.

Does Wilhelmina currently have a department in their agency for middle-aged models?

Yes, they call it their Sophisticated Division, and it does quite well for them!

Do you think that once the show airs, modeling agencies will start accepting 35 and older models?

I hope so!

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

Ash Gupta – Internationally Known Photographer and Founder of the Progressive Studio 838

Ash Gupta – Photographer and Founder of the Progressive Studio 838
Indian-born photographer Ash Gupta is a celebrated, internationally known photographer who has made his home in Los Angeles, but is very much in demand around the globe. He has photographed top models, celebrities, including Elizabeth Shue, Sharon Lee, Dominique Swain, and Davis Guggenheim, just to name a few. Ash came from a small town in India, and emerged from a very traditional orthodox business class family. He was very young, just 15 years old, when he got involved in commercial theater and met a group of friends who happened to paint. He tried painting, too, but realized that the soul was missing. And through this quest he found his way to photography.

“Actually my father did have an inclination toward photography and used to own some old Rolleiflex [cameras]. When my parents were vacationing, I tried to put my hands on the cameras and open them up. All the springs popped out and I was grounded. But that was my first introduction to photography. And since then, I do not think a camera has ever left my sight.”

Ash is the founder of Studio 838, a platform for talented young photographers. He realized that many photographers went through vigorous college training but were lacking certain critical elements. Many of these graduates were not prepared to handle real world experiences. The photographers were hand-picked, and would soon become a part of animportant discussion group, a group that would dissect and embrace the art form. Its main focus? Commercial photography. These photographers became part of a family, Studio 838.

“When I started shooting commercially, first assisting and interning, I met photographers who were very well trained, having the proper discipline, as well as being graduates from special schools. I realized that they had problems coping with real life. They knew how to shoot, but didn’t know what to shoot—the college didn’t teach that. We started grouping very talented photographers and concentrated on commercial fashion. This was the start of Studio 838.”

—Ash Gupta, Photographer—

How long ago did you start the network? Is that what you call it, a network?

I call it a platform because I have my connections in photography and commercial media all the way to Southeast Asia. Since I moved to Los Angeles [15 years ago], I started meeting photographers. I assisted some very powerful names in the industry. But the real execution of the studio and the first group of photographers that I trained happened in 2003. I later realized that these photographers would eventually assist me. They’d move on because total emphasis was fashion [photography] as a fine art. I had already trained two groups of photographers, and just when the third group was about to enter the premises, I realized that the studio needed to concentrate on commercial ventures. So the photographers I was training could actually stay here and make a living. And now we are all working towards the same goal—to take over the commercial market in Los Angeles.

Have there been any challenges while trying to put together this group of photographers you’re working with now?

The biggest challenge was to put a group of artists together. Egos are the biggest thing—they’re very fragile. [For the most part], artists are not very vocal people, and to teach them how to express themselves in a group can be very difficult, especially when you deal with our directors, management companies, publicists, designers, and the people involved with the fashion industry in general. Because everybody has massive egos, blending themtogether is very difficult. But once we achieved that successfully, they needed to learn how to react to the outside world. And because it is not an MBA course, it’s something that has to be dealt with on a regular basis.

How many photographers do you have in your group right now?

We like to have two or three photographers and two interns at a given time. It is a platform for photographers who have a professional place to launch their careers.

It’s almost like an apprenticeship.

It’s more like a house for photographers whose sources are enviable.

What don’t you accept in a potential applicant? What is the one thing that would make you go, “This person can not qualify for this program“?

Somebody who is not a really good team player.

How could you find that out?

A person who is a team player makes sure that the job has been divided. Suppose someone has to produce a shoot. Those interpersonal skills with other people should be very enterprising, not be scared of challenges. “No” is definitely not an answer. Once you’re a team player, you start trusting your teammates, and that trust is embedded in you.

Did you have a high turnover when you first started this platform?

Actually, not really. I really like people. That’s the reason I work with people—it’s chosen by the people for the people.

So you have a “Photography Democracy.” So where do you see this platform in five years?

I see it as a very strong commercial venue. At the same time, I see it as a very strong platform for launching the upcoming young talents. We want to have our own branding, and wherever the 838 name is put, it should be all about quality.

That was very enterprising of you to start this, and obviously there is a passion in you. Is it because of what you went through personally as a photographer that made you feel that this platform was necessary for other photographers coming up?

There are some professions that you can do by yourself, and there some professions where you need a group. Motion film is not a one person’s job. Good or bad depends on the team you put together—casting matters a lot.

How did you get started?

I started at a young age and from a very strange scenario. I came from a family that had nothing to do with fashion, but I was always interested in anything my background did not have to offer me.

Had you shot anything of note before you moved to L.A.? What did you shoot?

I was shooting a lot of everything, but I realized that I was more interested in people because a lot of families wanted me to shoot their portraits. While in India, I had a friend whose dad used to be senior executive for a fashion company. One day, their main photographer was unavailable. They asked me if I had a camera and could I take pictures for them. So I took some pictures, and three weeks later, I got a pretty fat check in the mail. And for the first time I realized, “Wow, you can do it this way, too!” You could make a very lucrative living because that money was too much for that particular time, and suddenly my avenues changed. I got to know more local agencies. I started making friends with the art directors and the commercial clients. Slowly, it converted into a business.

Back in the 80s, there was a lot of peer pressure to get an education. Get a master’s degree. Become a doctor or lawyer or engineer. Fashion Photography was not a classified designation to do what you do as a fashion photographer. Not in India in the 1980s.

Maybe you paved the way a little bit?

We were definitely the first ones who started an era of fashion.

So you are a pioneer. You are a maverick. Do you think that because you come from a family that is very orthodox, business related, this is what spurred you on, and maybe why you are so enterprising in creating your own platform for photographers? Because that is a business.

Yes, but whatever is inside of me is no different from what you’re thinking. If I needed to stay in business, I would have stayed with my dad. I have this feeling that people should not suffer the way I suffered. We had no mentor. We had no direction. We didn’t know how to rest. The new generation should not be lacking anything. They don’t have anybody; they should have role models; they should be more vocal; and they should be accessible.

What made you decide to come to America?

To be honest, my telephone bill to America [It was costing more than an airline ticket]. My girlfriend was here for almost a year, and we used to talk a lot on the phone. Someone suggested I should fly instead of hiking up my bills. So I did come to New York.

So how long did you stay in New York?

I actually stayed for two and a half years because three months of my visit, we decided to get married. So I got married in a small town. She was studying at Cornell; and that was a totally new and different life after that.

So you did a lot of Fashion Photography in New York, which is high fashion central?

I connected myself to Cornell Design League, which is an in-house advertising fashion agency of Cornell. And they have a fashion school there. I was involved with them, but then we [my wife and I] had two choices, move to New York City or to Los Angeles; and I don’t know … it was 16 or 17 years back … what tempted me to come to Los Angeles—perhaps the weather, because it was closer to my home country, India. And we moved to Los Angeles instead of going to New York, a decision I do not know whether I regret or I am happy about. But Los Angeles feels like home now, and I’ve been living here for the last 16 years.

How is the fashion in America different from that in India?

Actually, it is not. Only commercialization and branding of fashion is different, but fashion is fashion, and its purest form is going to be fashion. In Africa it’s going be fashion. In Eastern Europe it’s going to be fashion. In Milan, Paris, etc… And it is always going to be in India. But the branding and the corporate ladders … things are different. Their campaigns are on a bigger level, and there is bigger business in America.

Lowest Low

My lowest low was moving to Los Angeles from a small town in New York, thinking that I am good enough. When I moved here, my wife was an exchange professor. And as her spouse, the visa requirement required me to accept any position of employment—I could work for free. I thought wow, I’ll find a photographer and I’ll assist him, and only photographers in Los Angeles were allowed. I sent at least 250 resumes within a week, and I couldn’t meet a single photographer. They were so busy, and I was very frustrated because I was not asking for any money. That I think was the lowest low of my life, but it didn’t last more than a week. A man has to do what a man has to do. So I made friends, and I got to know some photographers that way; and I broke in.

Highest High?

My first photo shoot where I wasn‘t assisting. It was my first celebrity, Bruce Lee‘s daughter, Sharon Lee. I knew Bruce Lee very well, because my younger brother is a big fan of his, as well as being a martial artist himself. I grew up with Bruce Lee’s books and Bruce Lee’s posters in my house in India. When I was supposed to shoot her, I was very nervous. It was a very amazing feeling. I remember I couldn’t sleep, and I was so tired in the morning, but I was very happy and I was just flying.

What advice would you give to an aspiring photographer as a mentor that you are?

Do more homework before you jump into it. Are they photographing a model or are they photographing the ensemble on the model? They have to love the people in every shape and form, especially if they want to work with people. You can not be a people hater and work with people. Fashion photography is a very people-oriented career. There is a lot of ego pampering involved. Fashion and people are the only genres of photography where your personality counts for 50 percent of the work which you produce. They need to work on their interpersonal skills and make the other person very comfortable.

Can you tell me in one sentence what is particularly unique about your technique as a photographer?

My subject is more important than my technique, and I am working on some very interesting subject matters.

So you are more interested in bringing up the quality of the subject as opposed to infusing your technique into the actual picture?

If you’re emphasizing on technique, I have always felt this quest and to shoot people through a medium where photography can be treated like a fine art.

As Agenda Magazine‘s guest photographer, Ash Gupta will be contributing fashion editorials and cover shots in our upcoming issues. To learn more about Ash Gupta and Studio 838, visitwww.studio838.com.

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

YogaFit’s Founder Beth Shaw – Making a Difference in the Fitness Industry

YogaFit’s Founder Beth Shaw – Making a Difference in the Yoga Industry

From high intensity classes like Tae-Bo and Spinning to lower impact, stress-reducing activities such as Pilates and Tai-chi, fitness has evolved from an exercise to a lifestyle. But no other form of exercise has changed the fitness world more than the practice of yoga. Beth Shaw is recognized throughout the United States, and internationally, as one of the leading experts in the fitness industry. She graduated with a B.S. in Marketing from Long Island University, then made her home on the West Coast.

Shaw is certified in White Lotus Hatha Yoga and Integrative Yoga. As she began teaching yoga and quickly discovered that traditional methods didn’t meet the needs of the fitness club clientele, YogaFit was born. Her unique blend of yoga, strength training, and stretching took the fitness industry by storm; and in 1997, just three years after its inception, YogaFit began training instructors nationwide. Today, there are more than 50,000 YogaFit instructors in the United States and thousands more in Europe, Turkey, Australia, China, and South America.

I visited Beth Shaw’s recently and listened while she shared some of her health tips as well as her business successes.

What made you decide to get into Yoga and create a school?

I have been working out since I was fifteen, and I’ve always loved the health club environment; so when I decided to get trained in Yoga and went through a couple of traditional trainings, I found that they really didn’t meet the needs of the health clubparticipant. So I created YogaFit, which is a user-friendly fitness-oriented user style of Yoga. And the company has grown really fast and very internationally.

What is User-Friendly?

It means that we modify and we make yoga accessible to every different body style and body type to any level of fitness or injury level.

I used to go the gym, and now I have equipment at home. I went to a yoga class maybe twice. Do you think this is becoming a more popular way of exercising now?

It’s definitely becoming more popular. A lot of people are tired of beating up their bodies, and they are looking for something that is going to give them the current body type that is in vogue, which is a longer, leaner look, instead of more muscular.

How did you get started?

I started out of my living room in the early 90s. I was teaching YogaFit-style classes at the major health clubs in Los Angeles. One of my students invested working capital into the business, and I was selling my t-shirts and yoga mats out of the back of my car. I did a cable TV show called “Yoga Fit” that was running some mail order clothing ads. Just doing a bunch of different things, and planted some seeds. Some sprouted and others didn’t.

Tell me about your line then.

We’ve got a full line of yoga clothing. We’ve got a new line of organic clothing, too, that’s sustainable. The fabrics are made from bamboo.

What do your clothes retail for?

They retail anywhere from $59 – $90.

Your actual process of teaching yoga, you said you cater to the individual, is there anything you’d like to share when you’re working with that person?

Well, we really focus on the essence of the practice, not just the physical form, but what they should be feeling in their bodies. And we also emphasize that people should feel, they should breathe, they should let go of judgment, expectation and competition and really listen to their bodies and celebrate the bodies that they’re in. You know their yoga
Practice, or any kind of movement, should first and foremost be safe, but it should also be a celebration of music and breath and movement and sweat.

What age ranges are actually doing yoga today?

Anywhere from 6 to 96.

You also have schools all over the country?

We do. We have partner schools all over the country and we do a lot of our training in health and fitness clubs around the country.

What were some of the highs in creating this empire?

For me, the high is going out on the road, meeting the client, going to one of our mind/ body fitness conferences, getting to lead a class, going on to a health club, teaching master class, getting publicity, and getting the brand out there.

Have you had any pitfalls in trying to create this?

I think the trick in creating a business is to make more good choices than bad, but I’ve definitely made some mistakes and had some heartache along the way. I guess any good business owner would say the same thing.

None you’d like to share?

I made some hiring mistakes. I have made some personal mistakes along the way. You learn from your mistakes. Hopefully, they’re not so bad that you can’t rebound from them and you kind of learn as you go. That becomes the exciting part, it becomes almost a spiritual practice for me. To learn life lessons and keep moving forward.

I guess that’s part of the yoga experience.

And the business of yoga adds a whole new dimension to that.

Explain to the lay person that doesn’t know what yoga really is, and has shied away from it because it’s more the metaphysical/spiritual side of things as opposed to the weight lifting side of things. To someone who is completely unfamiliar with this process and what this is, how would you explain this?

It’s a series of movements: Yoga postures combined with breathing in a flowing, heat-building way that works your body, helps relax your mind. So it’s like your body gets a workout, and your mind gets a mini vacation.

Do you do chants as well?

In our advanced level trainings, yes, we do. But in a normal yogaFit class, you will not find Sanskrit, and you will not find chanting.

Yoga goes as far back as the centuries, right?

A 6,000-year secret to health to health and vitality.

For someone who is out of shape, or who wants to get in vogue with their body this season, or just whatever’s in, how long does something like that take? For instance, somebody who’s 30 or 40 pounds overweight? How long does it take before they start to see results?

They’ll start to see positive results within a week to two weeks. They’ll feel better. They’ll notice that their eating habits change dramatically because they’re getting in touch with their bodies. They’ll notice their back feels better. They’ll have more core center strength. Perhaps they’ll see a bicep or two. And they’ll just feel better from the breath and the focus, and giving themselves time for their body. That’s something in our society today—people do not give their bodies the time that they need. And also, not just going to the gym and lifting weights and running around, but bringing your mind into your body and then giving yourself that time. It really adds a whole new dimension to what fitness truly is.

It probably makes people want to go. For me, I stopped going to the gym. I just work out at home now. Going to the gym for me is not very fulfilling.

And that’s where the yoga becomes much more fulfilling than traditional fitness.

How much does it cost to join your program?

Well, we have advanced level trainings and basic trainings. And a weekend training would be about $300. And they’ll learn the basics of yoga, how to improve their own practice. How to create a practice that is tailored for their body. And also how to be safe and have fun along the way.

What advice would you give someone who’s trying to get their body into shape?

First, I would say just move your body for an hour a day. Go out and do three 20-minute walks, do some yoga, do any kind of movement. People need to get in the habit of moving. Our bodies were made to move. Our minds forget that. I would also say start making portion control a priority. When you get a meal, cut it in half right away. Put half aside for lunch the next day. And start to get your stomach accustomed to just eating less. And make better food choices.

You were even saying that after someone has been in the program for a couple of weeks, they have changes to their eating habits on their own.

That’s the nice thing about yoga. Getting in touch with your body, you don’t have to force yourself to make changes. They happen naturally.

Is there anything you’d like to add?

Yes. Remember any movement is good movement as long as it’s safe movement.

Shaw has been published in numerous fitness, business and consumer publications including SELF, FIT, Yoga Journal, Club Business International and LA Parent. Her book, Beth Shaw’s YogaFit, is a best seller among Human Kinetics titles. Shaw has been featured on ABC News, the Style Network, CNN, Showtime, Canada AM, and the KCBS talk show Woman to Woman.

For more information about YogaFit and Beth Shaw, visit her website at www.yogafit.com.

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples