IN STEP WITH | BRITT STEWART

There’s something about dancing that is so freeing whether you enjoy it personally, professionally or watching it on TV! Tomorrow is National Dance Day and we had the chance to catch up with Dancing With the Stars’ pro, Britt Stewart, who partnered with BAND-AID® Brand to celebrate this day (find out about their National Dance giveaway on their Instagram where you can find out about how you can win a special mailer that includes Britt’s favorite BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE® bandages, a gratitude journal, face masks, a gift card for dance gear and more as it’s live now! In partnership with her non-profit, Share The Movement, they’re honoring the uplifting power of dance in Black and Brown communities by sharing all of Britt’s dance “Must-Haves!” 

We took some time to talk about how Britt became a dancer and her passion for it! We also wanted to know how she came to DWTS and the latest season of this show which kicks off season 32 on Sep 26th! We also wanted to know more about her partnership with BAND-AID® Brand as well as how she uses her platform to promote diversity in dance!

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be a dancer?

BRITT STEWART: Oh, wow! I don't know if I realized it for myself because I was three years old when I started dancing, and my parents put me into it. But as soon as I started dancing, my parents knew that that was my passion. Then, I had an amazing opportunity professionally when I was 15 years old, when I was in the high school musical movies, and it was what really showed me what a career in dance would be like. After that, I just was stuck and that's what I ended up doing!

AM: Where did you train and what kind of dance do you do or lean towards?

BS: I trained in Denver, Colorado at Artistic Fusion Dance Academy. I also trained at my art school from sixth through 12th grade at Denver School of the Arts. Growing up I trained in everything. I was classically trained with ballet and modern and contemporary and jazz. I also did tap and hip hop and cultural dances. And now of course, I lean toward all styles of ballroom dance. I would have to say my favorite is jazz through and through, but I love Samba and Viennese Waltz.

AM: You have toured as a dancer for a number of artists including: Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building, Selena + Chef, Dear…), Rihanna (Ocean’s 8, Battleship, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) Janet Jackson (Poetic Justice, Why Did I Get Married?, Why Did I Get Married Too?), Demi Lovato, and Florence and the Machine! You danced during Super Bowl XLIX and have also been in Grey's Anatomy, Bunheads, and the Gilmore Girls to name a few - how has it been to showcase your talents on so many stages and different ways?

BS: My career feels so expansive because I started so young, and I also feel very blessed that I got so many different experiences on so many different stages, from live stage to  TV and film. It has really been a blessing to be able to call my passion my career and my work. I know that that is something that doesn't always happen, so I don't take it for granted.

AM: You joined DWTS as a dancer in Season 23 - 27 and then became the first black female pro on the show in Season 29! What attracted you to being on this show and what is the difference between being a dancer versus a pro?

BS: The show actually started as just a regular commercial job. I got hired to do one little performance, and that is where the producers saw me and asked me to audition for the show. It really came out of the blue! I knew that I wanted something different and I wanted to be challenged. This was right after Katy Perry's tour. I had been with her for three years, and I really loved working with her, but I knew that I just wanted something different at that moment. And literally, Dancing with the Stars fell into my lap. It pushed me in so many ways. The biggest difference between being a dancer and a Dancing with the Stars pro is it really does hold so much responsibility. As a pro you not only get to dance, but to choreograph and to teach and really create a relationship with whoever your partner is.

AM: You've partnered with Johnny Weir (Zoolander 2, Happy!, Spinning Out), Martin Kove (The Karate Kid, Rambo First Blood II, Cobra Kai), and Daniel Durant (Switched at Birth, Chicago Med, CODA) - how do you prepare to work with partners who have varying levels of expertise and what's that process like?

BS: The process of working with all levels and expertise is very unique to each season. I stay true to myself as a choreographer and as a teacher, but I always enter the room with an open heart and open mind and choreograph and teach for that partner's needs.

AM: What has been your favorite memory of being on this show?

BS: Oh my goodness. Well, my favorite memory on Dancing With The Stars is hard to choose because my first season was so rewarding. I really earned a friend for life from Johnny Weir, and he was honestly the perfect first partner I could have asked for. But then, I don't know. I mean, being partnered with Daniel and then falling in love with him, I guess that's my favorite memory!

AM: What can you tell us about the upcoming season that we should keep an eye out for and what are you looking forward to?

BS: Unfortunately, I can’t share too much information about the upcoming season but stay tuned for more to come shortly!

PHOTO CREDIT | Angela Pham at Ballet Hispánico, New York City - Dance Pros Britt Stewart and Brandon Armstrong show off their moves at a recent event hosted by BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE® and nonprofit Share The Movement. 

PHOTO CREDIT | Angela Pham at Ballet Hispánico, New York City - Dance Pro Britt Stewart hosts a moving panel about barriers Black and Brown dancers face at a recent event hosted by BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE® and her nonprofit Share The Movement. 

AM: Tell me about Share The Movement, how you are partnering with BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE® with dance clinics here in NYC, LA, and Atlanta, and why this was synergistic for you.

BS: Share The Movement is a nonprofit organization and I’m lucky enough to serve as President. Share The Movement was created by an amazing group of dancers, choreographers and dance enthusiasts, and we launched in April of 2021. Our mission is to increase diversity in the professional dance industry. As an organization, we’ve really grown in the last several years through our mentorship and summer scholarship programs. We also help young BIPOC dancers continue with training and development opportunities.

Through our partnership with BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE®, we’re putting our mission into action—helping to develop young, diverse dancers. Together we are hosting a series of free dance clinics in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles. I'm currently here at the New York City event, which just begun, and it's been amazing to create a space where everyone can feel seen and heard. It has been so special.

AM: I'm caramel complected and the fact that there is an option to have wound care options that match our skin is really exciting. Why is this important for dancers?

BS: Having a brand that embraces different skin tones is so important for everyone, especially dancers. We are always on stage or in class where we are prone to cuts, bruises, blisters— you name it. Having BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE® bandages at the ready and matching my skin tone just adds that extra layer of confidence to any rehearsal or performance, shifting the focus back to my performance rather than exposing a wound.

AM: How are you using your platform to amplify content from Black and Brown dancers for National Dance Day?

BS: BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE® and I are teaming up for a giveaway in celebration of National Dance Day on Sunday, September 16! People will have the chance to celebrate dancers and win some of my favorite dance essentials, including BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE® bandages. Be sure to stay tuned for additional details and how you can enter the giveaway on BAND-AID® Brand's Instagram page @bandaidbrand.

 Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

CLEAN BEAUTY THRIVES | PRETTY WELL BEAUTY

This month, we're also thinking about how we can shakeup our skincare and makeup. We're always looking at how we can add products that fit our needs, get introduced to brands that may not be familiar to us and incorporating more clean beauty into what we use!

We caught up with Jazmin Alvarez, founder of Pretty Well Beauty which recently opened their beauty destination in NYC's Oculous. A veteran of the industry who is known for her work behind campaigns and photoshoots in fashion and beauty and her love for clean beauty led to creating a brand that showcases these beauty products that are created by BIPOC founders. We wanted to find out more and see how she got into this portion of the industry.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Prior to launching Pretty Well Beauty, you were already a veteran in the beauty and fashion industry. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got into the industry?

JAZMIN ALVAREZ: Yes, prior to launching PWB, the majority of my career was spent working as a photo producer and casting director for several large brands including Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, I was an editor at Condé Nast and in between I freelanced and worked on campaigns for Sephora and was the Creative Producer and Casting Director for the Fenty Beauty Digital campaign launch in 2017. I really loved the work that I did and I had the opportunity to work with the most prolific creatives and models in the industry from Steven Meisel, Pat McGrath, Sir John, Guido, etc and talent that was on the major rise at the time like Sir John and Lacy Redway. It was incredible to be a part of all of that but I had reached a point where I felt as though I’d plateaued in my career in terms of my earning potential while at the same time, developed a deep urge to build something of my own.

AM: In working on those projects you mentioned as well as Prada, Balenciaga, Hearst, etc - what lessons did you take away from that that you still use to this day in your business?

JA: Wow so many things actually. In fact I didn't really think or know that all the skills I’d acquired from working as a producer/casting director would be so transferrable as an entrepreneur. My ability to budget, negotiate, and manage a lot of different types of personalities all while remaining very calm. These were skills that took me years to hone in on and to develop a thick skin because the fashion industry is brutal. There’s nothing glamorous about it at all and the same it true with building a brand. I’ve had to balance out the personal and professional ways in which I handle the people I work with much like how I did as a producer. It’s a very fine line that isn’t always the easiest to navigate.

AM: What is it about the beauty space that you felt that you wanted to be part of the democratization of it?

JA: I noticed that there wasn't any conversation around the origins of clean beauty specifically. Beauty as well as fashion has notoriously been known to be quite discriminating against anything that is less than euro-centric in nature. And when that isn’t happening, we see a lot of tokenism. That never sat well with me, especially as someone who tried for a large portion of their life trying to fit into that. It was very damaging and toxic. The fact that something that has existed for thousands of years was/is being appropriated, repackaged and capitalized upon by non-people of color was something that never sat well with me. BIPOC have been surviving on earth-made remedies for self-care and beauty since the beginning of time. However when you enter spaces that offer natural beauty and personal care, you are overwhelmed by brands by people who may or may not have any historical relation to these ingredients whatsoever. While I absolutely appreciate the organizations like the 15% Pledge and Pull Up For Change, the fact that these even need to exist is upsetting. Black womencomprise the largest demographic of beauty consumers yet are often either unaddressed or tokenized as a way to check a DEI box. There’s nothing authentic about it because if larger retailers for example truly saw the value of the black dollar, this would have been part of their strategy from day one. My intention with PWB was to create a space that is authentically inclusive and shine a large spotlight on the products and the brands that are being created by some of the worlds most brilliant and innovative founders in the clean beauty space. This is one of the ways in which I’m democratizing clean beauty and making PWB a space for people who want to discover these brands in an elevated and aspirational setting.

AM: Why is Clean Beauty something that you are so passionate about?

JA: So for years, I struggled with my skin. It was never terrible but it wasn’t great. It took me years to realize it was the products I was using. Upon learning about the hazards of a lot ingredients specifically in products marketed toward black and brown women (which contain on average 9X more parabens and toxic ingredients vs products marketed toward our non BIPOC counterparts) I became angry and scared. I was greatly affected health wise and I knew I had to made a change. Clean beauty is the safest and most effective way to care for ourselves because our bodies respond best to ingredients found in nature because it knows what they are. We come from nature, so creating a relationship with nature is only going to benefit us. It makes for a more conscious human and shopper and encourages us to use our instincts in ways something overly manufactured can subdue. I want people to understand that skin care is health care in a lot of ways simply due to the fact that what we put on our skin as our first line of defense can effect our vital internal organs. Developing a relationship with clean beauty can dramatically change our relationship to how we see and care for ourselves and the planet.

AM: Tell me about Pretty Well Beauty and why you wanted to launch this brand?

JA: I started PWB because I wanted to create a space that I hadn’t experienced before. A space for discovery, connection, community and representation. Today no one is interested in going to a faceless digital mall where they have to sift through 100’s of brands and thousands of products. It’s daunting and overwhelming and frankly really boring. There are so many brands and retailers that have their own definition and standard of clean beauty and I wanted to exceed that which wasn't very hard to do. In fact by developing such a stringent clean standard it allowed me to be able weed out a lot of noise and nonsense and hone in on brands and the people behind them that are truly putting in the effort and always pushing and striving for better. I wanted to focus on those brands and those brands alone. They aren’t always the most well known yet or popular-yet but they are building and growing alongside some heavy hitters (that I like to refer to as my anchor brands). It was a priority for me to include lots of diversity not only with the people behind these brands but also with the price points. I needed PWB to be friendly for people of various socioeconomic backgrounds. I grew up poor and I know what it feels like to walk into a space and know there isn’t anything there for me. It’s a feeling that’s still never left me and it’s how I felt when I entered a clean beauty store years before launching mine. I cannot allow anyone to feel that way when they enter PWB.

AM: What is your process when it comes to onboarding brands that you carry at Pretty Well Beauty?

JA: The process varies and can take anywhere from a couple weeks to a year! I analyze the ingredients as my first step, then the packaging. Packaging needs to have an element of sustainability as well as high level and elevated level of branding aesthetics (this is beauty after all), it must also be compatible with the product they contain. I test every product as well to ensure efficacy. For me its not good enough that something just feels good, it has to work. I speak with the founders and get a high level of understanding of their supply chain (i.e where the ingredients are sourced, how and by whom). If there Is a give back/mission as part of their business model thats always a bonus and well respected. There usually isn’t a ton of negotiating in terms of pricing etc as there are industry standards that we adhere to but there are a couple of outliers I can work with. Many of the founders I carry I’ve had relationships with for many years long before I started the company which is really exciting to be able support.

AM: Pretty Well Beauty recently launched its first brick and mortar at The Oculus here in NY. What are the challenges you’ve had to navigate in this phase of PWB’s growth?

JA: Wow, so many challenges, I don't even know where to begin. I think the biggest one is the increase in expenses that are associated with having a brick and mortar, the schedule and strain on my time since I can’t yet afford to hire in-store staff so I am there 7 days a week nearly 10 hours per day. It’s grueling work but I see It as a temporary sacrifice for the future I’m creating.

AM: What are 3 brands that you’re excited about that you’re carrying at Pretty Well Beauty?

JA: While of course I absolutely love all the brands I carry at Pretty Well Beauty, there are some that I’m so excited for people to get to experience in person such as Mflorens, SKN/Muse, and the fragrances by Leland Francis. Fragrance was something I was never comfortable selling when I was online only as that’s a hard sell since people can’t smell through their devices lol so being able to introduce natural fragrance in the store was exciting and has been doing incredibly well!

AM: How important is it that a percentage of the brands that you carry are BIPOC founded?

JA: This is absolutely incredibly important. This has never really existed in this way before. It’s always been the opposite where BIPOC brands had a very tiny space in an unlit area of a store not getting much recognition and was always hard to find. As I mentioned earlier, BIPOC shoppers are the biggest beauty shoppers so offering them a space with lots of variety of products that will serve their unique and beautiful needs is an honor and a privilege.

AM: We love using our platform to bring people together, to share stories, to create spaces where people can learn more about brands and products and those that are behind them. You’re doing the same by driving awareness to your mission and the brands that are aligned with that. What can those who are visiting your store expect beyond just purchasing their newest find?

JA: They can expect to meet and learn/hear from the people behind these brands. We are doing in store events on an on going basis where our customers and other people can come, get product demos, samples and recommendations for themselves. I also offer consultation services for those who are looking to overhaul their beauty cabinet and make the switch to clean but need some hand holding during the process. This is actually one of my favorite things to do and I started doing this with my friends ages ago whether they wanted to or not haha! They can also expect to be part of a community of engaging and like-minded people who are looking to learn, connect and be inspired. I'm just a brown girl who grew up on welfare and food stamps who now owns a business and lives in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I had an idea and a dream. I had no idea what I was doing or how, but because every single day I did at least one thing that could help me reach this goal, I was able to. I’m still not where I want to be yet, but I’m confident that I’m on the right track. I want people to be able to see what is possible by dreaming bigger, not settling into the circumstances they were born into and that by putting good into this world, you will be rewarded.

AM: Clean Beauty is not a new category but to see how it has been transformed over the past few years from brands leaning into this, the fact that there are accessible as well as luxury options and that the packaging for many makes you want to include it on your vanity – what are trends that we should keep an eye out for in 2023?

JA: In 2023 expect to see more mushroom and adaptogen focused products for skincare for sure. More products that will serve multiple uses and a focus on more innovation around product delivery systems.

AM: For those who have yet to make the transition into clean beauty or want to start the process, how do you suggest that they begin to make their transition and to find items that are comparable to those that they currently use?

JA: Well they can come to Pretty Well Beauty and see me. But if they are not in the area, I would suggest starting slow. You don’t have to throw everything away and start 100% from scratch. That's not practical for most people. I’d say the first things you should start with replacing is deodorant first and foremost.

The CDC reported years ago about the connection between breast cancer and the aluminum thats in antiperspirants. Next I would swap products that spend the most time on your skin, I’m talking serums, moisturizers, SPF. And finally lipstick. In the average womans lifetime, we consume pounds of lipstick from eating and drinking, or even talking while wearing lipstick which most conventional formulas include lead (which is natural btw, but extremely toxic for humans).

AM: Looking at 2023, what are you excited about for Pretty Well Beauty?

JA: I’m really excited about growing our brand’s presence and awareness via the store as well as starting the fund raising process. I’ve been putting it off for a while (I was scared) but now I’m ready! I’m ready to strike while the iron is hot. I’m also excited about discovering new and innovative beauty and wellness brands and growing this amazing community that I’ve started. I’m also looking forward to developing partnerships with other brands who align with our values and being able to merge communities that way. And finally, I’m looking forward to adding more wellness brands to the store and online. We’ve always carried wellness products, but it's not always easy for people who need more guidance to rely on the online shopping experiences so being able to allow people try them in store is amazing. I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity to connect and expand in ways I wasn’t sure how I’d do it.

IG @prettywellbeauty

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Lori Cannava

Read the JAN ISSUE #85 of Athleisure Mag and see CLEAN BEAUTY THRIVES | Pretty Well Beauty in mag.