On the back of winning the Star Beauty Visual and being named as having an outstanding entry in the Star Beauty Feature category at the recent 2013 Star Awards, beautydirectory sat down with Alexis Teasdale to find out more about her career. Here the Cosmopolitan lifestyle director and Cosmopolitan Bride managing editor discusses how she got her start, her career progression and most memorable beauty experience.
How did you get your start in beauty media?
Actually from the very editor I work for now. I’d been the editorial co-ordinator at Cosmopolitan Bride for a couple of years when Bronwyn McCahon, the then-editor of Dolly, offered me their beauty editor position. I can still remember that moment she called to tell me I had the job clear as day, and it remains one of my all-time-favourite career moments.
What has been your career progression since starting out?
I was living in Adelaide and saw a profile on Sarah Tarca (now editor of Girlfriend, then ed coord at Cosmopolitan) on the Cosmo website and she had said she was from Adelaide and landed a job at a mag in Sydney. It was like a light bulb moment. So I wrote her an email saying how much I’d love to do work experience at Cosmo, and she replied straightaway. A year later during my work experience week, she put in a good word for me when a job came up at the newly launched Cosmo Bride. Next thing I know, I’d been offered a job, was flying back to Adelaide, packing a suitcase and starting work the following week (at 20 years old). After that, I went to Dolly, worked briefly on the launch of Glamour magazine which didn’t end up making it to market, then worked at InStyle magazine as the beauty editor. After a couple of years there, I went to SHOP Til You Drop as beauty and lifestyle director before being made deputy editor there. Now it’s back to where it all began as the lifestyle director of Cosmopolitan and managing editor of Cosmopolitan Bride magazine, where as well as getting to look at pretty wedding pics all day, I still write and shoot our beauty section.
What do you think are the key qualities you need to be a successful beauty editor?
I think you need to be confident enough to hold your own at a function where you may not know anyone, or have to talk to an owner or GM of a beauty company. I was terrified in the early days, but eventually you realise that everyone in the industry is passionate about it – and can probably chat all day and night about beauty. And you need to know that the fun and glamorous parts of the job are a bonus and that the bulk of it is about being excited to find and edit down the best products on the markets for your reader. They come to you for your advice, so it needs to be great every time.
What has been your most memorable beauty experience to date?
There have been SO MANY. I’ve been a fan of Kylie Minogue since I was little, and when she came out to launch her fragrance Darling with COTY in 2006, I was beside myself. It was after her treatment for breast cancer, and was a very special and closely guarded event. I felt so privileged to be there. Another launch that I’ll remember for as long as I live was a trip to Qualia in Queensland with L’Oréal Paris. The sun was shining, we had golf buggies with our names on them and there was just some serious fun in the air. Amazing.
In the beauty world, who would you most like to meet and why?
I have such a girl crush on Gucci Westman, could she be any more fantastic? Have you seen her wedding photos? Cameron Diaz was a bridesmaid! Perfection. I would love to meet her. Drew Barrymore - who I count because she now has her own beauty line, Pat McGrath, Serge Normant, Bobbi Brown... the list could go on and on. And on.
Print or online? Do you have a favourite medium?
How could one choose – they both offer such different ways to enjoy the wide world of beauty. I’ve always worked in print, and I still get a buzz when the new magazine hits my desk and I can see something I’ve worked so hard on in my hands. I also love catching people on a train or plane looking at a story of mine. I think a few people have caught me staring and thought I was a stalker. Oops. But I also love the online space, the immediacy of it and how it’s ever-evolving and changing and offering consumers new and fresh ideas.
If you weren't working in beauty, what would you be doing?
Probably styling events, which I like to do in my spare time. It’s really just an excuse for me to get crafty, play with pretty things and buy flowers.
