Victoria DiPlacido works on both the print and digital beauty pages of ELLE Canada, where she writes and produces daily compelling and SEO-friendly beauty and celebrity beauty news content to drive traffic to ELLECanada.com. She is a social media wiz who manages social channels (Snapchat, Periscope, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube) for scheduled beauty content, breaking beauty news, award shows, and more!
I write for both the book and the website. We publish anywhere between two and five beauty stories a day on ELLECanada.com, and I’m always looking for content to Snapchat or Periscope.
Smart, interesting, witty women who want to learn about beauty trends, celeb beauty, makeup launches and tutorials, skincare, fitness and health news.
Email. I keep any relevant pitch I receive in consideration for print or online (meaning ELLECanada.com, our #beautyplaylist tutorials on YouTube and our social media accounts), so know that if I’m interested, I’ll always reach out.
It depends. Online, I can do day-of, but we work about three months out for print.
I hate having unread emails in my Inbox, and I try to delete, file and/or respond to everything each day. Sometimes once a day isn’t feasible, though – so sending a follow-up email the day after your original email is too soon!
The latest and greatest products and treatments, any derm or perfumer or other beauty industry professional who has new research or an interesting and effective way of explaining concepts to readers. Aspirational items are always good, as are celebrity angles.
I open and read through all of my emails. If I don’t get back right away, it doesn’t mean that I’m not keeping the product or idea in consideration. I tend to hoard emails and will reach back out once I see a trend or we start working on a story that makes sense with what was pitched.
If it’s on-brand for the beauty section of ELLE Canada, timely and/or exclusive.
Have the full product name, CDN price, CDN availability, date the product will be in stores and whether or not it’s embargoed clearly listed on the press release. I post a lot of content on Snapchat for ELLE Canada, so knowing if something is embargoed or not is important. It saves me from sending an email confirming that the product can be shared right away.
Have the full product name, CDN price, CDN availability, date the product will be in stores and whether or not it’s embargoed clearly listed on the press release.
I prefer getting digital press releases, but that’s just me. Other editors on the beauty team are all about the hardcopy. Recently we received makeup labelled with little stickers that had most of the above info on them. SO convenient.
Read the beauty pages in the magazine and on the website, then let me know what you liked. Follow me on social media – I’m pretty open about sharing my likes and dislikes there.
If the product/angle isn’t right for us. I try to get back to everyone, but it’s an order of priority thing. If you sent me an invite to the launch of a new denim line, know that getting back to you won’t be at the top of my list.
Just because something works for another magazine doesn’t mean it will work for us. I’m always looking for new ways to tell a story. I really appreciate when a PR team is down to try something they haven’t before (and sometimes, that we haven’t tried before either), whether it’s opening up exclusive access to an event or letting us do an interview that isn’t the usual Q&A format. It’s fun for us, and it’s fun for our viewers.
About Lisa Simone Richards
Lisa Simone Richards, principal of Vitality PR & Communications, has more than ten years of experience in beauty and fitness PR, first in the lifestyle/CPG agency world and then four years running communications for a women’s-only boot camp brand. After two years at a multinational, multi-million dollar fitness brand, Lisa recently left corporate life to start her own boutique firm, Vitality PR & Communications in Toronto, specializing in PR for entrepreneurs and small businesses with a specific focus on health, fitness and wellness industries.
