Final Product

Three Must-Try Dallas Natural Beauty Brands

By Katie Berger

Many women know the struggle of finding and purchasing cosmetics that A) get the job done, B) they love, and C) have ingredients they can feel good about using on their body. Why break the bank on conventional beauty products when you can choose an option that both supports local businesses and is better for your health? Here are three Dallas-based beauty brands made with all-natural ingredients.

Hard Night Good Morning Skin Care

D’Andra Simmons, the brains behind Hard Night Good Morning, was no rookie in the world of skincare when she built her brand. Simmons has a background in nutrition and skin care; when she started the company, she had been in the nutrition and skincare industry for over 12 years. “I felt I had gained enough experience to develop my own products and share with women and men of all ages what I have learned about anti-aging and healthy skin care from my knowledge of nutritional ingredients.”

Simmons, a Texas native, then put her skills to good use and created her own brand using ingredients locally sourced in her home state; All Hard Night Good Morning products are made in laboratories in and around the Dallas area. “We love having them local so we are able to pop in and check on the current fill of a product or be really hands on in the development of a new product,” Simmons says.

Simmons is the only woman in her family who has yet to battle cancer, and her story is her motivation behind seeking out the cleanest and most natural ingredients. “At the time I started my line, not many people were paying attention to what was going into their products or what they were putting on their bodies,” she says. “My extensive knowledge in nutrition really drove this need for an all-natural skin care line.”

Must Try: Detox Toner ($20.40 right now at hardnightgoodmorning.com) “The detox toner is packed with antioxidants such as fruit stem cells from pumpkin, strawberry, carrot, kiwi, and mango that nourish and protect your skin. It also shields against free radicals in the environment.” One of Simmons’ favorite bonus uses for the toner is “as an after sun exposure soother. Because of its aloe base the cool mist of the spray can help to relieve and heal sunburns!” 

MopTop Hair Care

Founder Kelly Foreman was tired of being teased for her curly, unruly hair. After being called names like “poodle” and “cotton head” by mean girls in her childhood, Foreman decided to take a step to hopefully help other young girls enduring the same thing. She reached out to several friends in the cosmetic industry and after repeatedly being recommended to the same lab in Dallas, Foreman suddenly had an “overwhelming sense that she needed to take this a step farther.” The rest is history.

Foreman’s inspirational story eventually gave way to her own line of hair products—MopTop Haircare. “It’s about empowering people,” Foreman says. “My vehicle just happens to be a hair product. I just did not want my kids to go through the same things that I did without a tool. That is the guiding force behind every decision I make. To get the opportunity to make a difference in somebody’s life—that is my goal, to help people feel better about themselves.”

Because skin is the human body’s largest organ, Foreman is a big believer in monitoring what goes on it. “Everything you put on it can be absorbed up to 60 percent,” she says. “Our bodies are these amazing machines, and we’re so resilient, but we have to take care of them.” Therefore, all MopTop products are free of parabens, sulfates, and silicon, and instead are composed of natural, good-for-you ingredients including coconut oil, aloe, and honey.

Must Try: Mongongo Oil ($14.99 at moptophair.com)

MopTop’s Mongongo Oil is a blend of natural oils that nourish and smooth hair, and it can be used as a sealer for split ends.

Abundantly Aromatic

Owner and creator Renee Mitchell was a self-proclaimed major consumer of candles. She spent a lot of money on them, as most of us do at our favorite generic smell-good shops. One day eight years ago, she decided to take a shot at making her own and soon she had a booth at the Dallas Farmers Market, where she routinely sold out. Now, Mitchell has expanded her business, adding soaps, sugar scrubs, and body butters to her repertoire.

Abundantly Aromatic’s products are as simple and unrefined as they come. For the first few years of her business, she made them in her garage. “There’s a lot of companies and soaps that you buy that say handmade, but it is actually a block of glycerin melted down, and the retailer will add essential oils to it,” Mitchell says. “That’s like buying a roll of cookie dough, cutting it up, and putting it in the oven. However, my cookie dough is made from scratch.”

Simple, natural ingredients are important to Mitchell. Instead of using unsubstantiated words such as “organic” and “cleansing bar” to describe soap-based products and cover up processed ingredients, she focuses on putting wholesome and recognizable ingredients together to create products customers can feel good about.

Must Try: Handmade Soap (available at the Dallas Farmers Market)

Largely vegan, Mitchell’s soaps are made from scratch with ingredients you can pronounce and are friendly to all skin types.

Weekly Report 33

Final Presentation Night is finished, and my work in ISM has also come to a close! I cannot even begin to explain how rewarding my ISM journey has been; I have gained valuable experience both in and out of the classroom, learning about countless aspects of journalism. I now know more about my topic than I ever thought I would, and I have formed relationships and connections that I will cherish forever. Never in a million years would I have thought that by my junior year of high school would I know how to write and fact-check my own original AP style story, or that I would have a mentor and now good friend at D Magazine to help me along the way.

Final Presentation Night was definitely a whirlwind of “I studied journalism” and “thank you’s,” but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Getting to share my knowledge with my family and friends, and getting to introduce my fantastic mentor to all of them, put a huge smile on my face and gave me a gratifying sense of achievement for all of my hard work this year. I cannot wait until next year so that I can further my studies in journalism and enhance my knowledge of the career I am passionate about!

Weekly Report 32

I am so happy to announce that my final product is done! This point is the peak of my time in ISM; this product is the fruit of my labor from an entire year of hard work. I am excited to present this article at Final Presentation Night with my family and friends. I have learned so much from the experience of writing my article, including each step required of a journalist in the process of writing and publishing an article.

In the past week of adding finishing touches to my article, I have especially learned how to work efficiently to meet a deadline. In one week, I have completed two out of three total interviews, transcribed them, wrote the bulk of my article, and edited the entire thing. Once I enter into a professional journalism job, I will have to do everything that I did for my final product within the span of a few days, so getting an idea of the timeline of writing a story was extremely helpful.

Creating this project has also taught me how to appropriately interact with sources, the types of questions I should be asking, and how to pick and choose the most important aspects of an interview to include.

FINAL PRODUCT

Weekly Report 31

This week has been one of substantial progress on my final product! As it is coming down to the wire, I have been interviewing my sources for quotes to include in my article. Thus far, I have conducted one in-person interview and am still awaiting email responses from two other sources.

On Thursday, I was able to interview Kelly Foreman, founder of MopTop Haircare, in person at Whole Foods. She was such a kind and genuine individual, able to provide me with valuable and detailed information about her business. Her story is truly inspirational; she built her business as a solution to a problem she had throughout her childhood. Her philosophy behind using natural ingredients is pure and good-intentioned, and the entire purpose of her business is to help people feel confident in their own skin. After the interview, she showed me her products in Whole Foods and even gave me free samples. I learned from this interview the value of having and creating relationships with contacts like these; journalism is an industry in which you can meet incredible people and form relationships that will enhance your professional career. Building your network of people who you have genuine relationships with can ensure great opportunity in the future; it’s all about who you know.

This interview gave me great quotes for my article as well as a beneficial interview experience under my belt, and I hope that the rest of my final product interviews will go as well as this one did.

Weekly Report 30

This week, I was finally able to reach out to my final product sources. At my mentor visit on April 21st, my mentor and I finalized my interview questions as well as the source email I would be sending out. Staci helped me refine my questions to more appropriately address each brand, and she gave me suggestions on how to personalize the email to each business owner.

From this experience, I learned the best steps to initially reach out to a source; an email is the best way to initially reach out if you can find one. In this email, a journalist should try to be as specialized as possible (for example, saying “good morning” instead of “hello,” and mentioning the actual brand name instead of vaguely saying “your brand”). This way, I can maintain the same format across all of my sources save a few minor adjustments. If an email is not available on the company’s website, a corporate phone number is usually listed, and that will suffice as well.

I have already received responses from two of the three sources I have reached out to, and I look forward to finding out more information about each of them and their brands.

Weekly Report 29

After a call with my mentor last week, I now have a clear plan of action for progress on my product moving forward. I have now completed a list of questions for my sources, as well as an email to send to each company I plan on interviewing. My mentor will review these with me this coming Friday, and I will then be able to finally reach out to sources and write the body of my article with the resulting information.

Through this process, I have learned a lot about how to approach and interact with sources depending on the context. In this case, a story in which I will require similar information from multiple sources, I need to ask the same questions while finding subtle ways to personalize the questions. As a journalist looking to feature a brand in an article, I need to display interest in my sources by showing them that I have done research on them and that I am legitimately dedicated to crafting a piece that displays them positively. In other cases it may be different; for instance, if I am interviewing multiple different sources in efforts to provide differing points of view, I will most likely need to create many more questions and ask highly specialized questions to each source.

Weekly Report 28

This week in ISM, I have learned from my mentor how I should approach sources when interviewing for my final product. She told me that I should tell my sources that the interview is for a school affiliated project rather than for publication; this way, if my article does not end up being published, the source does not get confused or upset when their quote is not published.

Additionally, I have put a lot of thought into which sources I will choose; I have more than five sources and only five slots for products to feature in my article. Some of my brands are local businesses run by Dallas citizens, which I would love to feature, of course. However, the rest are still natural makeup products, but they are produced by larger corporations are merely available for sale in Dallas. The latter of these will obviously be more difficult to land an interview with, but I will reach out anyways and hope for the best.

This week, I hope to have most of my quotes secured and make substantial progress on the actual body of my article. I have a phone call scheduled with my mentor on Thursday, so hopefully by then she will be able to help me tweak and edit my work thus far.

Learning Fact-Checking and Deciding on a Final Product Idea

Mentor Visit Assessment 3 

Mentor: Staci Parks

Profession: Online Managing Editor

Location: D Magazine Office

Date: March 10, 2017

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Assessment:

            At my third visit with Ms. Parks, we reached a conclusion in the process of choosing a story idea to pursue in my final product article. At the meeting’s beginning, I pitched my ideas on both potential stories (one focusing on the detrimental effects technology has on our physical health, and one about how to fight disease with the food you eat). Comprised primarily of background research, my pitches gave a general idea of where I saw each story going, what information I could feature, and potential sources I could contact. After hearing my pitches, my mentor gave me some constructive feedback; she suggested that I try to find a way to “localize” each of my stories. She then elaborated by saying that every story that D Magazine publishes has some significance to the Dallas community, some impact on local groups or individuals. For example, she told me about a story that D ran about a year ago that focused on a local yoga studio that provided classes solely for relieving the stress and pressure that technology creates on human bodies; including this information is a way to make the story relevant to the local community.

After then discussing potential sources to interview for each story, we decided that I should go with the food story for my product, as 1) I would have an easier time finding sources to interview (local nutritionists, chefs, or even farmers), 2) it would be simpler to localize (I could maybe do a feature on the Dallas Farmer’s Market or a single vendor within my article) and 3) it is the one that I am most passionate about. Staci and I discussed potential directions in which I could take my article that would make it more likely to be published in D. For instance, she mentioned that she had been wanting to do an article for a long time that featured all natural beauty products available for sale in Dallas by local small business owners; if I interviewed Dallas Farmer’s Market vendors, I could potentially find out some information about this subject as well. We also discussed potentially writing a series of articles, the first of which could contain my original ideas, the second focused on beauty products, etc. We had lots of brainstorming discussions full of many creative and potentially feasible ideas, but I have decided to stick to just one article for the sake of time.

Additionally, Ms. Parks and I were able to sit down and thoroughly review the fact checking process. She gave me a long handout that every D intern receives (which thoroughly describes each step of the process and addresses a variety of scenarios one is likely to encounter when fact checking, and we went through every detail of every step. This was very beneficial to me, because it is a skill that I will employ in my final product as well as in all of my future journalism endeavors. After I learned how to fact check, I was able to begin comprising a list of potential sources for my article, which I will finish before our next visit.

Attending Magazine 101 and Brainstorming Final Product Ideas

Mentor Visit Assessment 2

Mentor: Staci Parks

Profession: Online Managing Editor

Location: D Magazine Office

Date: February 1, 2017

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Assessment:

On my second mentor visit with Staci Parks, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by D Chairman Wick Allison for interns and new employees called Magazine 101. The presentation detailed the history of D Magazine, why magazines are still around, what purpose magazines serve, and the components of a successful magazine. First and foremost, Magazine 101 taught me that D Magazine is published for a specific, targeted audience and focuses on enhancing the lives of Dallas residents. The original D Magazine aims content towards the interests of mainly middle aged, home owning Dallas residents with a median household income of $330,000, while D CEO targets business professionals and D Weddings targets, of course, brides and family of the bride. Mr. Allison detailed the importance of catering to the needs of the community you are serving and focusing only on how you can better serve them (meaning publishing audience-specific content that the magazine’s community of readers want/need), not on how vague you can make content so that you will attract more readers. The presentation overall taught me about the purpose and goals of the publication at which I am conducting my mentorship, so I can now cater the composition of my final product to that purpose. Furthermore, I learned that a successful magazine is built on meaningful content, advertising, and of course, its readers. With a combination of content that the magazine’s readers are interested in, strategic advertisements that take into account the readers’ average income and way of life, and readers that invest in the magazine, the publication will thrive and complete its original purpose- to create a community of readers and serve them.

After Magazine 101 concluded, I briefly met with Staci to decide on a specific story idea for my final product article. We decided that, because I have a passion for health, fitness, and food, I should write an article in which I interview dieticians, nutritionists, and even potentially natural food grocers. I believe I will be writing a story about grocery shopping with a nutritionist, and it will be geared towards spring, focusing on buying seasonal ingredients that can keep you healthy and happy. Staci has previously interviewed at least one dietician, one nutritionist, and one farmers market representative, so she has offered to get me in touch with those sources to be featured in my article. Another reason this particular story would be a great final product is that it is, as the D editors call it, an “evergreen story,” in that it has no particular expiration date; it will not be considered “old news” if it is published at any time, and people will be interested in it for a window of a few months rather than one or two days like in the case of news stories. This will allow me a longer time period in which to write the content of the article and go through all of the refining and editing steps it requires on the journey to publication. I think I will immensely enjoy writing this article, as it combines many of my passions into one project.

Staci and I also planned our next mentor visit for Friday February 10^th, on which we will begin my education on the fact-checking process as well as AP Style. I look forward to working with Staci on bringing my story to fruition.

First Mentor Visit

Mentor Visit Assessment 1

 Mentor: Staci Parks

Profession: Online Managing Editor

Location: D Magazine Office

Date: January 11, 2017

Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Assessment:

At my first mentor visit with Ms. Parks, we focused primarily on setting goals and expectations for our time together. I was hoping to find out through the visit what Ms. Parks thought it was important for me to learn, and how that was similar to topics I had an interest in learning about; this was definitely accomplished. Ms. Parks emphasized the importance of me gaining experience in the fact-checking process, writing in APA style, and attending editorial meetings over the course of the mentorship. I wholeheartedly agree with all of these, as they are all essential elements in learning all of the steps a journalist takes in getting their story to print.

As for opportunities for me to enhance my independent study through my time in the office, Ms. Parks was able to provide several. First, she offered to give me material to fact-check that is actually planning on being published on the D Magazine website at some point during the mentorship. I think this will be a highly beneficial experience because I have no previous knowledge of the steps involved in the fact-checking process. If it is such a crucial aspect of journalism, thoroughly understanding and being capable of conducting this process will give me a leg up as I go into higher education and the professional world. Additionally, she offered to give me AP style “quizzes” (she teaches AP style at the University of North Texas) to help enhance my understanding of my topic and the format that I will ultimately use in my professional career.  I can then use this information to ensure that my writing, as I progress through my education and beyond, is respectable and credible. Something unexpected that I learned was the fact that every professional piece of work from all journalists, worldwide, is presented in AP style. I had no idea that it was so important for me to have such a depth of understanding of AP style, but now that I do I can ensure that I practice implementing it wherever possible. Furthermore, Ms. Parks stressed that attending editorial meetings would be one of the most important experiences that I could undergo during our mentorship. This makes sense to me, because seeing how every individual job works together to create the final magazine would allow me to see how exactly various specific jobs collaborate with writers in the creative process.

A highlight of the visit was discussing ideas for my final product and how Ms. Parks could help me in bringing it to fruition. This was exciting to me because I am eager to be able to see the growth that I will experience from my original work article, which I wrote completely individually, to my final product, which I will complete with Ms. Parks’ help. We discussed potentially writing an article or series of articles to be published on the D Magazine website, either with collaboration between just the two of us or with a few other D team members. This let me know that I need to direct my research towards deciding on a certain subject, area, or type of writing that I would like to focus on for my final product. Currently, I am leaning towards feature stories as opposed to news, and I may have to refine it more in the future. I need to know what sort of piece I want to write for my product because it will help me choose a particular story when it presents itself. Additionally, if I decide that I like a certain kind of writing now, I may be able to master it and continue focusing on it as I make my way into my professional career.

Jewish center bomb threats top 100; kids pulled from schools

Date: 3 March, 2017

MLA Citation:

Levenson, Eric, and AnneClaire Stapleton. “Fear Grows in Jewish Community after 100 Bomb

Threats at Jewish Centers.” CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Mar. 2017. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Assessment:

With President Donald Trump having delivered his first address to Congress on Tuesday, I thought it only fitting that I analyze a piece of journalistic work associated with his statements. In his speech, Trump addressed issues of rising anti-Semitism and what he plans to do about it, referencing the toppling of Jewish headstones earlier in the week and increasing waves of bomb threats on Jewish Community Centers (JCCs). This rising prejudice, according to Levenson and Stapleton, has “functioned like terrorism, shattering the idea of safety.” This statement, obviously, has great weight in it, with terrorism being the greatest fear of American people today. While this sentence could potentially be using shock value to get attention, it also holds truth, and could greatly impact American lives. What do these attacks mean for the future of the American people, and what can the press do to help Americans remain safe and informed?

Since Trump’s election, a visible rift of hate has emerged among the American people. Even with the liberal press exaggerating here and there, it is true that prejudice has reemerged when it comes to many groups, particularly immigrants and Muslims. However, this violent prejudice against Jews is fairly recent; is it because of Trump, or is there other motivations? The article detailed bomb threats on JCCs in different cities all on the same day. This could easily mean that there is a new rising racist/terrorist group within the United States that national security needs to be aware of. As a journalist, making note of patterns in current events and making predictions by connecting dots helps us be ready for anything, something Levenson and Stapleton do well. By presenting the readers with facts, data, and statistics (such as dates, times, and locations of subsequent bomb threats), while simultaneously presenting possible parallels between them, the press can help keep politicians, economists, and professionals of all other occupations on their toes by keeping them alert to new trends and possibilities. Too often, it is thought that journalists report news that has already happened, but by following the trail of a story, a journalist can identify trends and often make predictions telling where the story is headed next.

Furthermore, this article taught me how to take an obvious and widely covered current event and follow it to a lesser-known but just as important story. In this case, President Trump’s speech was the biggest spectacle of the evening; but by honing in on one small part of the speech, Levenson and Stapleton were able to shed light on a related story that has the potential to have an ever greater impact than the speech did. In future cases, I will now be able to look at huge cover page stories, and instead of focusing on the surface level material, read between the lines for underlying stories. An important skill for a journalist to have is the ability to find a story in anything, and I feel that I am able to do that after analysis of this article.

Product Progress Assessment

My final product, writing an article featuring natural beauty products from local Dallas vendors, has been teaching me many lessons about my field of study. I have discovered for myself that the beginning stages of writing an article are far more tedious, slow-moving and difficult than the actual composition of the article is. A journalist must narrow down literally an entire world full of possibilities for story ideas down to one particular one. They then must do background research on it to gain context and understanding, then search and contact sources surrounding that article. I am currently finishing up this beginning stage, preparing to contact sources. In addition, I have learned how big of a deal fact-checking is in the journalism world. If one tiny fact (it does not even have to be a proper noun, like a name or birthplace of an individual) is not entirely true, the publisher could take a lot of heat over it. In writing my article, I will make sure to pay especially close attention to detail when describing a product and its creator so that I portray them to the public in an appropriate manner.

I have also learned about myself as a writer through this process. I already knew that I like to be as thorough as possible, but I am now discovering the implications of this detail orientation and dedication to perfection. It is a positive in the sense that I know that I am putting my best work out there, but it is also negative in that it is causing me to fall behind schedule. In the future, I will have to work on my timing and completing my best work in a shorter period of time.

I am making progress on my product more slowly than I anticipated on my calendar; however, this is normal. In writing an article, the prerequisite work is always the hardest and longest part. Once I have a set story to pursue, all of my sources, and quotes from them, I can easily compile them into one cohesive article within a matter of days. In order to fix my legging behind, I plan on securing and contacting sources for my article this week (the week of 3/27) to ensure ample time to acquire quotes and comments. There is still much work to do; once I have my quotes, I must write the body of the article, then proofread and fact-check it. I am pleased with how the article is shaping up so far; I have found five companies that make and sell local and natural beauty products in Dallas. They are all interesting individuals with relatable and inspiring stories of creativity and innovation; I believe that their testimonies will enhance my article and make it colorful.

My mentor has been a vital player in the completion of my final product; she has been involved in every step of its development. She first heard my story pitches and helped me decide on one, then she taught me step by step the processes and characteristics of fact-checking and writing in AP style. Were it not for her, my article would be formatted entirely incorrectly, and it would most likely not be published. Speaking of which- my mentor is the sole reason that I even have a chance at getting published. Even if it does not happen for me with this specific article, at least I have the experience of writing an article in a format acceptable for publication; it is the experience that counts.