Bustle’s 2025 Beauty Icon Awards: The Wellness Heroes

The term “beauty icon” has been used in the past to describe someone who fits a hyper-specific beauty ideal — one that’s, quite frankly, unattainable for most. But what does being a beauty icon look like in the year 2025? What if being a beauty icon didn’t have anything to do with how you looked on the outside, but was a way to describe anyone who exuded a palpable sense of self-love from the inside out? You know, that inner glow that makes you do a double take to strangers in the street — that type of stop-and-stare beauty.

At Bustle, we’re reclaiming the term with our new 2025 Beauty Icon Awards — a monthly list where we spotlight the creators, gurus, and experts who are shaping beauty culture as we know it with courage and candor. The movers, the shakers, the disruptors with an unshakable sense of self who welcome us into their lives and inspire us in our own routines — to us, these are the real Beauty Icons of our generation.

First up? Nine women who are put the “well” in well-being. Existing as a woman in 2025 is no easy feat most days, but these creators and experts make it all feel a little easier — whether it’s through sharing their own vulnerabilities; doling out helpful, life-changing mental health and spirituality advice; or just creating content that feels like a mental escape when everything else feels unpredictable. All of these women have had unique journeys that have led them to where they are, but the one thing that they share in common is that they’re living their unapologetic truth — and what’s more iconic than that?

Ahead, meet the Wellness Heroes of Bustle’s 2025 Beauty Icon Awards.

The Pilates Powerhouse: Raven Ross

Follow: @pilatesbodyraven

Followers: 957,000

Despite being betrayed by her then-fiancé on Love Is Blind Season 3, Raven Ross didn’t let reality TV chew her up and spit her out. Rather, the classically trained dancer has come out on top: She’s built quite an empire for herself by way of Pilates Body by Raven, a fitness platform that offers live virtual and on-demand workouts. Her community — which she lovingly calls “Pilates Body hotties” — love the trainer’s sunny and engaging approach to fitness. But her hundreds of thousands of followers know her hottie persona extends beyond the mat: Ross is a bona fide beauty girly as well, often posting about her curls, skin care routine, and everything showers on her Instagram. And she does so with that same BFF energy she gives off when teaching Pilates. Consider her the ultimate relatable fitness queen who you can rely on for good beauty and self-care tips.

The Soulful Skin Star: Jadé Marie

Follow: @jadeywadey180

Followers: 1.1 million

OG followers know Jadé Marie as @jadeywadey180, her moniker when she first shot to fame during YouTube beauty influencer heyday. But Jadé is proof that reinventing yourself when you’re at the top can sometime be the most soul-fulfilling thing you can do. After feeling the tug to go deeper into skin care (versus the full-glam makeup tutorials she was known for at the time), she got her estheticians license and pivoted her brand to soulful skin care — bridging the gap between caring for your skin and doing the inner work to feel good in your most natural state, too. She’s the No. 1 proponent of encouraging her followers to remove their own “masks” of makeup and photo filters and never hide their true selves, and her soothing facial videos are basically a form of ASMR. She recently launched her own line of skin care called Jadé Complexions, which houses products like the refreshing Crystalline Marine Facial Polish for glowy skin, with or without makeup.

The “From Scratch” Queen: Nara Smith

Follow: @naraaziza

Followers: 4.6 million

Nara Smith skyrocketed into TikTok stardom for wearing couture in the kitchen and cooking everything from Coca-Cola to Cheez-Its from scratch. Not only does she teach her millions of followers how to whip up a healthy meal like it’s nothing (even though it requires more effort than most of us have ever put into cooking, ever), but her recent candid conversations about dealing with severe eczema gave insight into why she so often goes the DIY route when it comes to food choices: because her intentional food choices help to heal flare-ups and improve her mental health. Scrolling Nara Smith videos is like swaddling your brain in a weighted blanket — instantly soothing and comforting. It’s a form of aspirational, voyeuristic escapism that honestly we could all use more of in the uncertainty of the world. As a working model, content creator, wife, and mother, Smith doesn’t allow anybody to put her in a box.

The Manifesting Muse: Roxie Nafousi

Follow: @roxienafousi

Followers: 326,000

Bustle profiled Roxie Nafousi back in 2023 and dubbed her the modern manifestation queen, and since then, her star has grown tenfold. The author of Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life and Manifest in Action brought the concept to the masses, offering her hundreds of thousands of followers a clear-cut guide to manifesting — and getting — their dream life in a way that felt practical and nuanced, instead of woo-woo or delulu. Nafousi is a self-help guru in the age of Instagram, which means she isn’t shy about sharing her own insecurities and vulnerabilities, from the journey that led her to manifesting to the daily highs and lows of her life as an author, podcaster, motivational speaker and mother. This month, Nafousi launched her very own podcast, Rise With Roxie, where she interviews guests like Jay Shetty and Tali Sharot on finding purpose and happiness in the everyday.

The Self-Love Motivator: Sami Clarke

IG handle: @samiclarke

Followers: 612,000

Sami Clarke has been inspiring people in their fitness journeys long before the 2021 launch of her platform, Form, identified as not only a fitness app, but an “all-in-one destination for wellness and self-love.” Clarke takes her expertise as a former model and workout expert to the masses with a key message in mind: beauty starts from within. Beyond Form, Clarke co-hosts a podcast, Transform, at Dear Media, where she and her co-founder chat about everything from their real-girl routines to overcoming relationship challenges. If you’re looking for no-judgment fitness motivation, morning routine inspiration, or someone who makes taking care of your body feel like a pleasure, not a chore, Clarke is the one to follow.

The Mental Health Advocate: Elyse Fox

Follow: @elyse.fox

Followers: 40,100

Elyse Fox doesn’t want you to be sad — but if you are, you’re not alone. As the co-founder of the Sad Girls Club, Fox dedicates her time to offering educational and intuitive support to millennial and Gen Z women, girls, and femmes of color by turning mental illness into a comfortable, ongoing conversation that’s no longer viewed as taboo. Her platform and her Soft Launch column in Teen Vogue are grounded on the notion that taking care of your mental health is a foundation of living well, and she provides nurturing and encouraging insight while offering helpful advice to deal with common emotions like sadness and stress. With Fox, everything comes back to the importance of addressing self-worth, self-help, and self-assurance — all subjects that people of color experience in unique ways. If you find yourself leaning into negativity and doubt, allow Elyse Fox to bring you some comfort.

The Inner Beauty Boss: Mari Llewellyn

Follow: @marillewellyn

Followers: 1.5 million

Mari Llewellyn’s career started with a willingness to be vulnerable about her weight loss and fitness journey and has since turned into a wellness empire that’s all her own. Not only is she the founder of Bloom Nutrition, a supplement brand that’s known for the inner-beauty-first green powders, but she is the passionate host behind the Pursuit of Wellness Podcast, where she delves into all things women-focused health, mental health, fertility, and more. Even in success, Llewellyn hasn’t lost sight of her roots: being transparent about her current struggles, and in the process, relating to her amassed following on a deeply intimate level. She is constantly letting people into her world, and in turn, helping lead a generation to be more health-conscious, motivated, happy, and ultimately, know that they are not alone. Now that’s something to celebrate.

The Queen Of The V: Lo Bosworth

IG handle: @lobosworth

Followers: 855,000

Lo Bosworth destigamized vagina talk and changed millions of women’s lives in the process. When The Hills alum first launched her brand, Love Wellness, back in 2016, the options for women dealing with common issues like UTIs, infections, and BV were few and far between — and certainly nobody was talking about vaginal care. Inspired by Bosworth’s own struggles in finding trusted solutions for her health issues in drugstore aisle, Love Wellness was born. Since then, the brand has expanded into vitamins, supplements, body care, and tools, offering solutions for common women’s health issues in the brand’s signature light, nonjudgmental tone. Bosworth was one of the first to lead the open, candid conversations in the vaginal health discourse, and the industry — and our bodies — would not be the same without her.

The Slow Beauty Champion: Liah Yoo

Follow: @liahyoo

Followers: 246,000

After working a corporate job at a K-beauty company for years, Liah Yoo took a risk and started her own beauty empire — and it paid off. Since launching her YouTube channel in 2011, she’s amassed millions of followers who look to her for easy-to-digest beauty tips (think: the best sunscreens for acne-prone skin, how to treat a dehydrated complexion, and an explainer on physical versus chemical SPF), as well as self-care and lifestyle advice. In 2017, she added “brand founder” to her resume when she launched her own Korean beauty brand, Krave Beauty, a line of uncomplicated skin care basics that soon developed a cult following (including the beloved Beet the Sun sunscreen). After years of witnessing the beauty industry’s extreme waste in the form of packaging and PR deliveries, in 2024, Yoo shifted her content to offer her followers more tips on shopping mindfully to combat hyperconsumerism. Yoo is proof that making easy, small changes can be all it takes to take a more mindful, sustainable life — and that speaking your truth can have a ripple effect.