Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Mirabella.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Christina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I knew from an early age that the Beauty Industry was where I was meant to be. After graduating High School in 2006, I began Cosmetology school the following Monday; and I’ve literally been going ever since! Following graduation and obtaining my license, I started working at Bella Capelli Salon in Medford, Ma. I am fortunate enough to get to work with my best friends every day and have been blessed with some of the greatest clients the area has to offer.
In 2009, I started writing for a beauty magazine that was already in circulation. Since I loved my industry, and I had always loved writing, I figured I would step out of my comfort zone and combine the two. Little did I know, it would be one of the best decisions I had made up until that point and would be a springboard for the wild adventure that would soon be my life. Along with writing product reviews, assisting on photo shoots, and writing about basically everything I could possibly think of, I also started interviewing some of my favorite Beauty Industry Celebs (the transition to Entertainment Industry Celebrities would come later).
Pretty soon after joining the magazine team, I was doing makeup for a multitude of Fashion Week shows, music videos, and various Miss USA state pageants. Not long after that, I was doing hair and makeup for the Jam’n 94.5-morning show (Ramiro, Pebbles and Melissa) for promotional photoshoots as well as their annual Summer and Winter concerts. It was a world I had never been exposed to, but I instantly fell in love with.
Backstage I would watch as my friends would conduct interviews with music industry legends (in between me smoothing their flyaway hairs and powdering their noses) and I knew deep down I knew that I no longer wanted to keep my interviews strictly to the Beauty Industry. I approached my editor at the time, and she thought it was a great idea. I thought I would start with someone who was still relatable to my growing fan base of beauty industry readers but had also done other things. Enter: Betsey Johnson. What a doll! She was ambitious, fierce, a survivor, and one of the most genuine humans this world has to offer.
She made my first interview a total breeze, and I am forever grateful to my now wonderful, lifelong friend Betsey for that. (Little did we know, our collaborations would continue for the next almost 8 years!!) Once I had my first big interview under my belt, the rest came so naturally, that rarely ever felt like work, but instead more like catching up with some really fabulous friends. In 2012, my editor announced her departure from the magazine and had simultaneously asked me if I would be interested in taking over not only as editor in chief but also as the new owner of the publication.
Honestly, it felt like a dream. I consulted my mother (hi, mom!) and before I even got the full sentence out, she was yelling “Oh my god, yes! Absolutely! This is amazing!!” ….well she had never steered me wrong before, so again, outside of the comfort zone I ventured, and responded to my editor with an overwhelming “YES!!” Since my takeover, the magazine has reached staggering heights, We have undergone a name change (to Mirabella Magazine), a complete re-branding overhaul, and expanded our content to not only just include the beauty industry.
We are now a Beauty and Lifestyle Magazine and have been featured on QVC, EVINE, and other prestigious media outlets. Our list of contributors continues to grow, and now includes some awesome celebs who have become some of my closest friends. I have been able to interview and collaborate with some of my favorite people in the both the Entertainment and Beauty Industries, and have been awarded some of the most insane opportunities. I make it my mission to bring our readers material that I would actually want to read myself while featuring the most inspiring, hardworking, and relatable celebrities.
If you had told me 10 years ago that today I’d be working with the likes of Kelly Osbourne, Giuliana Rancic, Mia Michaels, Khloe Kardashian, Madonna, Adele, Shawn Johnson, Bobbi Brown, Barbara Corcoran and Kristin Cavallari, I never would’ve believed you! Yet here I am!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely not been the smoothest of roads, but at the end of the day, I like to remind myself that it could always be worse! The struggles I have dealt with along the way have actually been blessings in disguise (but that’s always the case with hindsight being 20/20, right?!)
Very early on into my new role, my entire email account, including address book (which housed every single contact I had made since starting at the magazine 2 years earlier) and all previous emails, was completely wiped out. The situation could’ve been avoided, but ultimately it was in the control of my previous editor and out of my hands.
After about 5 days of sobbing, eating plenty of ice cream, not wanting to leave my couch, and being unsure if I even wanted to continue with my new venture, I picked myself up and brushed off. If this was a test, I passed. It may have taken 5 days to realize I could recover from it, but I knew I could do it. I have dealt with copyright issues and other writers taking my work, changing a few words here or there and calling it their own.
Again, as devastating as it was, I realized that only the best writers get copied! Robbers don’t rob empty vaults! I have dealt with a makeup artist having what can only be described as an “adult temper tantrum” on the set of one of our cover shoots. It was one of the most embarrassing, humiliating, and potentially career-ending situations I have ever been a part of.
Ultimately the celeb cover artist, the hairstylist, the photographer and myself pulled thru and were able to turn the day around, but it could’ve easily gone sideways. As hard and as unexpected as some of the struggles have been, it definitely weeded out who was meant to be in my life, and who was only meant to be here for a season.
Please tell us about Mirabella Magazine.
Mirabella Magazine is an Internationally published Beauty and Lifestyle Magazine. We specialize in bringing our readers the best in industry related news, honest product reviews, interviews that answer some seriously pressing questions, amazing recipes, makeup tips & tricks, and reader-friendly tutorials.
As a company, I am most proud of our reputation as a whole. We have some of the greatest writers, editors and photographers, the industry has to offer, and our production team is second to none. What sets us apart from others is our mission to be “human inclusive.”
When looking into individuals to feature in our magazine or add to our staff, we do not discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, size, body type, religious beliefs, or lifestyle choices etc….. but we do look at you funny if you can get thru a day without caffeine or don’t feel the need to sing when Whitney Houston comes on!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would definitely try not to be so afraid of failure. I have made many decisions based solely on what may or may not happen, that I forgot to live in the moment and focus on what is happening right now. I would also try not to be as hard as I was on myself in the beginning.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we shouldn’t hold ourselves accountable when it’s appropriate to do so, but try to remember that with every one bad quality or mistake, there are at least 4 to 5 good things you possess or amazing things you’ve done.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MirabellaMagazine.com
- Email: christina@mirabellamagazine.com
- Instagram: @mirabellamagazine
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/mirabellamagazine
Image Credit:
Jordan Corey, Russ Mezikofsky
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