Safety In Beauty: First Year Successes and Q&A With Founder Antonia Mariconda

If you follow @CosmedicCoach Antonia Mariconda on Twitter (lots of us do - over 41,000 followers and counting!), you are probably aware of her ‘Safety In Beauty’ campaign.

The campaign was created to raise awareness of (and ultimately stop) unsafe practices in the beauty industry. It has just celebrated its first birthday.

To mark this milestone, Antonia and her team have put together the infogram below, showing highlights of the past 12 months. Successes have included getting injectable treatments banned at two major beauty events in 2014!

I encourage anyone with an interest in beauty to get behind this campaign, which uses the #safetyinbeauty Twitter hashtag. Antonia is one of the loveliest people I know and she is working tirelessly to help make the beauty industry a safer place. Find out how you can support her campaign here.

Earlier this week Antonia kindly took time out from her busy schedule to do a quick Q&A with me for my blog on the Safety In Beauty campaign’s first year:
 
Q:What achievement over the past year are you most proud of?
A: We are proud of having banned injectables at 2 major shows. We would have liked three, but never say never – the year is not over!

Q: What has been the biggest hurdle you have had to overcome?
A: Getting people to open up and share their experiences so that the stigma of #cosmeticsurgery, or any kind of aesthetic treatment, is removed and that people are not stereotyped. Asking people to be open and talk has not been easy, but it is getting better and more people are coming forward as they familiarise themselves with the campaign.

Q: From what you have learnt about botched beauty, what has shocked you the most?
A: I am most shocked at how so many practitioners spout the words "safety" and "ethics",  yet if you take a closer look at how they operate their business models,  there is a severe lack of safety and ethics! There is a lot of duplicity in the industry - whilst so many professionals clearly DO care, there are so many that don't, yet disguise this well. It's funny how ethics leave through the back door when it comes to money!

Q:. What next for the campaign?
A: Next year we will continue the pressure for a ban on injectables, until most shows in the UK realise that there is nowhere to run if they continue to do this. We will also continue to push the message on social media for the safety of the public using our famous #safetyinbeauty motto - cosmetic surgery tourism is an area of concern that we do wish to dedicate some awareness to.