About W+G
Well+Good was created to answer all the questions our friends, friends of friends, and perfect strangers wanted to know about health, beauty, fitness, and well-being, as soon as they found out what we did for a living.
Alexia Brue (left) and Melisse Gelula
As two journalists on this beat for national magazines—and how beauty products, alternative medicine, and spa practices work (or fail to)—we noticed that these topics weren’t really being reported in New York City for New Yorkers. So we put the spotlight on the huge yoga community here, called upon the New Yorkers crazy for kombucha to explain themselves, recognized that green markets are as beloved as museums, and saluted the battle between two top-rung Spinning studios that’s approaching Mets vs. Yankees level.
As a result, we’ve become a wellness wire service. We get New Yorkers’ pressing self-care questions answered from local experts like acupuncturists and nutritionists, vet affordable and accessible well-being experiences, and cover journalistically what people here do in their own lives to feel well and good. Wellness culture is alive and well in NYC. In fact, it’s Well+Good.
FOUNDERS
Alexia Brue was a contributing editor at Luxury SpaFinder and Spa magazines and is the author of Cathedrals of the Flesh: My Search for the Perfect Bath (Bloomsbury). She has an MA in arts & culture journalism from the Columbia School of Journalism and has written for the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and Conde Nast Traveler among others. Alexia has appeared on the Travel Channel, NPR’s All Things Considered, BBC Radio, and more.
Wellness Habitat: West Side Highway running path, Chelsea Market, Sunrise Mart, Flywheel, Equinox, Foot Heaven, and Moomah
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Melisse Gelula is the former editor-in-chief of SpaFinderLifestyle.com, spa beauty editor at Luxury SpaFinder Magazine, and travel editor at Fodor’s Travel Publications. She has an MA in English Literature from the University of Toronto and has completed six years of training as a psychoanalyst. Melisse has written for such publications as Departures, Martha Stewart Living, Organic Spa, and Budget Travel and has been featured as an industry expert in the New York Times and on CNN.com, the Travel Channel, E! News, and more.
Wellness Habitat: Prospect Park 5K loop, Flywheel, Barry’s Bootcamp, Figure 4 at Pure West, Bend & Bloom Yoga in Park Slope, Flatbush Food Co-op, and Julia March
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CONTRIBUTORS
Lisa Elaine Held is Well+Good’s senior staff writer and social media coordinator, which means she tries to find time to write (and tweet) while running to back-to-back barre classes, boot camps, beauty treatments, and (veggie) burger tastings. She has written for the New York Press and the Columbia Journalist and has an MS in magazine journalism from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. She worked in the nonprofit world before surrendering to the “I’ve always wanted to be a writer” cliche.
Wellness Habitat: Astoria’s Natural Market, The Brooklyn Grange, Yoga Agora, YogaVida, running the streets of Astoria
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Jennifer Kass is Well+Good’s good-nutrition weathervane and master of smoothie mixology. The former editor at Allure magazine also received formal nutrition training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). The Boulder, Colorado native founded Kass Health, a holistic health and wellness practice here in New York, to support clients in transformational diet and lifestyle changes.
Wellness Habitat: YogaWorks Soho, Tribeca Whole Foods, the West Side Highway bike path, and Gabrielle Bernstein’s Spirit Junkie coaching groups.
Ann Abel has been writing about spas and travel for more than ten years, and served as travel editor at ForbesLife and Luxury SpaFinder. In the name of spa research, she has been tattooed in Bora Bora, had her face stuck with electrified needles in Switzerland, been pelted with fire hoses in Italy, and endured unspeakable uses of oil at an Ayurvedic center. For Well+Good, she has stand-up paddleboarded in the Hudson River (tip: if you fall in, keep your mouth shut) and been bitten by a massage therapist.
Wellness Habitat: The Shala, Trapeze School New York, Power Pilates, Hudson Valley hiking trails.
Alia Akkam is the managing editor of Hospitality Design magazine. She’s a former contributing food editor of Organic Spa, and has written for Edible Queens, Tasting Table, and Paper among others. To celebrate the borough she loves best, she founded The Q Note: Life in the Borough of Queens. Alia loves yoga but remains terrified of inversions.
Wellness Habitat: Fresh Start Organic Market, Astoria Park track, Rejuvenate Face and Body
Kathleen Kincaid is an online product management, social media, and user experience design consultant with experience in content and tool driven websites. She’s worked for Microsoft, Yahoo!, Real Simple Magazine, Condé Nast Digital and numerous start-ups.
Wellness Habitat: NYC’s ice skating rinks, rollerblade-friendly roads, and tennis courts
Jerusha Klemperer is the program manager for Networks and Partnerships at Slow Food USA. She’s the editor of the Slow Food USA blog, a contributor to the Huffington Post and Civil Eats, and blogs at www.eathere2.blogspot.com.
Wellness Habitat: Printing House Fitness, The Shala, Kula Yoga Project. Last summer she learned how to ride a bike.
Ashley McCullough is a former professional cyclist who has recently channeled her hyperactivity disorder into rock climbing, ice climbing, snowboarding, and cyclocross. A sometimes contributor to Velonews and cyclingnews.com, she makes her living as a copywriter for the women’s sportswear brand Athleta. She is rarely seen without a helmet.
Wellness Habitat: The Gunks, Brooklyn Boulders, and various 50-mile cycling routes that circle New York City.
Nina Pearlman manages special projects for Rolling Stone. She was the executive editor of Revolver and managing editor on book projects for Rodale and HarperCollins. She has written for VIVmag and Brooklyn Based, among others, and is currently working on a book about her experiences with alternative healing methods.
Wellness Habitat: Park Slope Food Coop and CSA, NoHo Pilates Studio, and Feldenkrais with the Balanced Runner
Got a story idea for one of us? Write us at [email protected]
