Using Glamour for Good
Mary Alice Stephenson worked for Vogue and Allure and styled Beyoncé and Sarah Jessica Parker before founding her own charity
Mary Alice Stephenson’s career is as glamorous as it gets.
Stephenson (CGS’87, COM’90), a self-made fashion and beauty expert, headed straight from Boston University’s College of Communication to Vogue, where she interviewed with Anna Wintour to land a job in the magazine’s editorial department. That would mark the start of a career spanning a who’s who of New York fashion mags: editor at Allure, fashion director of both Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire, and stylist for the likes of Seventeen, Esquire, and W, working with celebs from Beyoncé to Sarah Jessica Parker.
Over the years, Stephenson’s fashion credentials earned her invitations to appear as a style expert on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and CNN. She’s been a consultant or a spokesperson for global brands like MAC Cosmetics, Neiman Marcus, Ann Taylor, and Calvin Klein.
But for all of her dazzling experiences—the glossy magazine covers, the jet-setting, and of course, the couture—her heart and soul lies firmly elsewhere. Stephenson, the longtime national fashion ambassador for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, is founder and CEO of her own charitable venture, GLAM4GOOD.
The nonprofit repurposes surplus goods from the fashion and beauty industries by putting them into the hands of people experiencing clothing and personal-care insecurity. Since its launch in 2012, GLAM4GOOD has helped more than 150,000 recipients—people battling cancer, families recovering from natural disasters, children in foster care, and COVID-19 essential workers—through pop-up events and direct shipments.
Fashion houses and beauty brands generate massive surplus inventories of unused goods, Stephenson says: “I saw all of this excess.” According to GLAM4GOOD, 17 million tons of fabric waste are generated in the US every year, with 15 million tons ending up in landfills or incinerators. Another 11 million tons of shoes and clothing meet the same fate.
“Because I’ve been involved in so many charitable endeavors, I also saw need,” she says. “I founded GLAM4GOOD to take all of the excess and use it to help people.”
11 MILLION
TONS OF SHOES AND CLOTHING END UP IN LANDFILLS OR INCINERATORS
GLAM4GOOD HAS HELPED MORE THAN
150,000 RECIPIENTS
15 MILLION
ITEMS OF CLOTHING DISTRIBUTED THROUGH GLAM4GOOD
GLAM4GOOD takes in products from more than 500 brand partners, including H&M, American Eagle, Hanes, The North Face, Bumble and bumble, VSP Vision Care, and Tommy Hilfiger. The organization has distributed more than 15 million items of new clothing and over 3 million toiletries and personal-care essentials—worth an estimated $70 million—to those in need across the country. Former First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey have partnered with GLAM4GOOD on giving initiatives.
One of the most meaningful partnerships? BU’s own Newbury Center, which supports first-generation undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. In January, GLAM4GOOD popped up at the George Sherman Union to give away some 15,000 items of clothing and toiletries—nearly $500,000 worth of goods—to more than 575 first-gen students. The happy recipients filled GLAM4GOOD tote bags with goodies and took selfies with their friends. It was an experience Stephenson says she’ll never forget.
“To partner with my alma mater was super meaningful to me,” she says. “The dedication to service that the school and student volunteers showed matched what I felt in my heart, and I was just so impressed that it was so meaningful to them, too. It was a moving experience for all of us.”
Q&A
with Mary Alice Stephenson
Bostonia: Can you talk about why you started GLAM4GOOD and what its mission is?
Stephenson: I spent most of my career in fashion. I loved it but also kept wondering, how do I connect purpose with all of these beautiful and glamorous things that I do? I needed more. So being in fashion was my passion, but GLAM4GOOD is my purpose.
We are really trying to do our giving in a modern, youthful way that is transparent, that is fun. We are very much tuned in to positivity, lightness, joy. Just because you need some help, that shouldn’t be sad or something to hide; we all need help at times. We want people to be loud and proud about this giving experience. We don’t want it to feel like a handout—it’s a hand up. Many of our recipients are also helpful—they give back and volunteer. We receive a lot of continued support throughout the years: many of them say, “Okay, now can I put my bag down and help?” So it’s a really beautiful symbiotic relationship of giving.
We don’t want it to feel like a handout—it’s a hand up.
Bostonia: Tell us about why GLAM4GOOD wanted to work with BU.
I think that it’s really important for people to understand that even someone going to Boston University can be suffering from poverty. Around 39 percent of Americans suffer from poverty and can’t afford basic essentials. That’s almost one in 10 Americans that are in need. Some students that come to these schools receive [significant] financial aid. In those situations, it can be hard enough to make ends meet while they’re in school, let alone afford clothing and personal-care essentials to move forward in life.
What I and the team were really excited about was that we could provide students with new clothing and personal care for job interviews or the jobs they hold right now, in addition to warm coats, winter gear, sleepwear, and hygiene products.
When you give people access to clean clothing and personal hygiene products they need, it boosts their confidence and improves their mental health. It also creates equity: [giving people basic care needs] has been proven to prevent illness, remove social barriers, and empower academic and professional success.
With the Newbury Center, this was an amazing opportunity and an honor to partner with Boston University. BU gave me so much confidence as a young woman going out into the world and made me able to go to New York City and achieve so many of my dreams. To be there with GLAM4GOOD and be able to empower these kids, make sure they won’t have to struggle to get a winter coat or boots—and even just love them up with our team and make them feel great—made me so happy.
Bostonia: You cultivated tons of connections from your years in fashion that have led to some really high-profile brand partnerships for GLAM4GOOD. How do those relationships work?
We have a long-standing partnership program. For example, we’ve had a four-year relationship with Ulta Beauty. They are really committed to sustainable practices and to supporting nonprofits, and they chose GLAM4GOOD [to partner with]. They deliver products to us on a quarterly basis and support us monetarily through the Ulta Beauty Charitable Foundation.
Some people find us just because of the fact that we’re kind of a fashion and beauty-industry “charity of choice” now, and word spreads.
We are also a very visual organization. From the inception, I wanted to show the good we were doing. I have been involved in so many different organizations, and sometimes you never see what they actually do. You can go on our site and our Instagram and see photographs [of our distributions], which is kind of a groundbreaking way to do it. But our events are so joyful, so we started showing them, and that has really helped to attract partners with global presence.
Bostonia: How do you think BU set you up for your career?
My experience as a student, and all the support the University gave me, really gave me the courage and connections to break into a very, very challenging field in fashion. It gave me the courage to go to New York after graduation, to approach Anna Wintour at Vogue. I found my voice at Boston University.
I don’t think my career would have happened if I hadn’t had that really pivotal time at BU to learn to grow both intellectually and emotionally, and have the courage to know that I could thrive on my own. The College of Communication and the College of General Studies gave me the skills to tackle what’s in many ways a cutthroat and challenging industry. I started taking the train to New York to interview for jobs during the end of my time in COM. I was really lucky to be interviewed by Wintour and get a job at Vogue then. That led to Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, creating covers and editorial shoots, consulting for brands, and appearing on TV shows from CNN to Bloomberg TV.
All of that helped me found GLAM4GOOD. I started it as a single mom with not a lot. I didn’t have family funds, I didn’t sell a company and have extra funds to start a business, I didn’t have a partner behind me for support—I had my voice. And I had the people that I had worked hard to develop relationships with in my fashion and beauty career. If I didn’t have that voice and courage to ask these major brands for what we needed to help people, GLAM4GOOD wouldn’t be here today.
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