Celebrating Stellar Magazine’s sixth anniversary and that inaugural poolside cover, founder Elle Macpherson revisits the title -- this time as guest columnist.
It’s been six turns around the sun since WelleCo founder, Elle Macpherson appeared as cover star of Stellar’s striking launch issue. To celebrate, Elle pens a guest column for what is now, Australia’s most-read Sunday magazine, reminiscing on what has changed since 2016 -- in business, in life and in this extraordinary place we call our world.
“Six years have passed since the Stellar debut cover in Hayman Island and being here again is a beautiful, full circle moment. I remember feeling so grateful – for that opportunity, for my newfound vitality and for the life I’d learnt to create.
WelleCo was a start-up then, just two years old, and we were navigating the introduction of ingestible beauty to the market. Globally, at the time, beauty was associated with youth, but I had come to learn that beauty is more strongly aligned with wellness.
Though the bond between consumers and topical creams was strong, we wanted to share new realisations about beauty; deeper understandings that go beyond just the surface.
We released a campaign featuring two ads – ‘You’ll look great. Right down to your mitochondria’ and ‘You see, it’s not all in her genes’. This turned the perception of beauty inside out.
We clarified beauty, reinstating its true nature as soul-deep, not just skin-deep – embracing that charisma, confidence and magnetism that makes people attractive regardless of their outer appearance; the same curious magical quality that radiates from those who are well; that we all have within.
In 2020, the world slowed down, stricken by fear and uncertainty, and we saw a deeper desire for wellness on a global scale. It became clear we had to connect with what it means to be truly well. We began to recognise, value and address spiritual, mental and emotional wellness, not just physical.
Of course, this journey had its challenges on all levels in all lives. Adaptability became the key life skill. In the business context, I found myself embracing spontaneity, leaving behind the overly-produced style that had defined my career. I hopped on lives and zooms at a moment’s notice, relaxed, natural and willing to connect with and support our community. My boys, isolated like others, also faced challenges, attending school from their bedrooms and graduating without rite-of-passage ceremonies.
Through it all, we returned to quality over quantity in our relationships with ourselves, with those around us, and with nature. Now more than ever, we wanted real connectedness — authentically meaningful, wise interactions with our world, with each other, and with ourselves.
We started to prioritise connectedness, as it quickly became clear that connection is essential to wellness and a lack thereof attracts illness. We learnt that to be well in our world requires we respect the natural environment as well as our natural selves.
Today, initiatives like Farmer’s Footprint in Australia, are cultivating the microbiome to build nutrient-rich soil essential for healthy food. It’s become clear that regenerative farming is at the heart of our human and environmental future. Prioritising such principles and practices in our lives and businesses ensures that we can thrive, from soil to soul, for generations to come.
I’ve also seen businesses evolve past wellbeing into welldoing, becoming cleaner and more sustainable. They, too, are recognising inner transformation precedes outer change, and true cocreation is only possible with connectedness and being clear and well inside.
In just six years, beauty and wellness have become widely acknowledged as one, embracing our relationships, businesses, resources and planet. Ultimately, I’ve learnt that wellness is the new beautiful, health is the new wealth, kindness is the new cool and inner peace is the new success. May you enjoy all of it, Stellar.”