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04/10/14 | Uncategorized

Bobbi Brown to Beautify Yahoo in New Role as Editor in Chief of Beauty

The founder and CEO of Bobbi Brown cosmetics will lead the beauty section at Yahoo as Editor in Chief of Beauty.

By Betsy Mikel (Editor, Women 2.0)

Yahoo snagged one of the biggest names in beauty to revamp Yahoo Beauty. Bobbi Brown, the makeup artist and New York Times bestselling author with her own makeup line, is joining Yahoo as Editor in Chief of Beauty.

When she starts her new role on April 21, she will get straight to work leading the editorial direction, content creation, expansion and re-imagination of Yahoo Beauty, Yahoo reported in a release.

“In this new role, I get to combine my interest in education and empowerment by curating amazing visual content that will teach women how to be their best selves,” said Brown in the Yahoo announcement. “Beauty is not just about makeup, it’s about lifestyle and confidence.”

When the professional makeup artist launched her first ten natural lipstick shades in the 1991, Brown was one of the first to create beauty products that worked for different skin tones. While other makeup companies focused on bright colors that worked best for white women, Brown stuck to a more natural color base that also worked for African American and Asian skin tones.

“I’ve always said that if I wasn’t a makeup artist, I would love to be a teacher or an editor,” Brown said in an announcement on her own site. “I’ll work to curate smart, strong content that will teach women how to be their best selves.”

While some many are celebrating the addition of Brown’s voice and expertise to Yahoo’s content, The Guardian raised the issue that this could be a conflict of interest. Will Brown be also be promoting her makeup line on Yahoo Beauty?

“The reason that people would turn to Yahoo Beauty is for independent news and analysis on a specialty topic. If you have an editor who has a vested financial interest in a product line, news consumers are automatically going to assume that that product line gets preferential treatment,” Kelly McBride, co-author of The New Ethics of Journalism and senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute told The Guardian. “And so it doesn’t even matter if it actually does get preferential treatment, the perception alone will damage Yahoo’s credibility.”

Brown is just one of several new editorial hires Yahoo is bringing on to build out new sections of their site such as food, travel and entertainment.

Yahoo recently hired Paula Froelich as the Editor in Chief of Yahoo Travel. She was previously the deputy editor of the New York Post’s Page 6 gossip column and created the travel website “A Broad Abroad.” Earlier this year, Yahoo also promoted Sarah McColl to Editor in Chief of Yahoo Food.

Do you think this is a good move for Bobbi Brown — and for Yahoo?

Photo credit: Image via Leaders in Heels.

About the author: Betsy Mikel is a freelance copywriter and content strategist who helps brands, businesses and entrepreneurs tell their stories. A journalist at heart, her curiosity drives her to find something new to learn every single day. Follow her on Twitter at @betsym.

 

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