Courtenay Hall is the co-founder of BELLA Media Group and Editor-in- Chief of its presenting titles, BELLA New York and BELLA Los Angeles.
 

Born and raised in Summit, New Jersey, Courtenay is a 1993 graduate of Summit High School and a 1997 graduate of Muhlenberg College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications. After graduation, she landed her first position at Grey Advertising in Manhattan, and after a year on the agency side, decided to enter the world of publishing. Her first position at a major New York publishing house was with Hachette Filipacchi where she worked in advertising sales at luxury shelter magazines Metropolitan Home and Elle Décor. From there, she moved to Meredith Corporation, where she broke company sales records at the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications. After a successful venture at Meredith, she eventually accepted a position at Gruner + Jahr and was part of the New York team that launched Rosie O’Donnell’s national lifestyle magazine ROSIE.

An avid magazine reader, Courtenay began to see that there was a void in the New York market for a lifestyle publication that spoke to all women, not just a certain demographic, about how to look and feel their best, with the emphasis on “Beauty Defined by You.” This approach set BELLA apart, as Courtenay’s vision was not to tell women what should be beautiful to them, but to include all aspects of beauty within the magazine and let the readers decide for themselves. In January 2011, BELLA New York premiered as New York’s premiere women’s luxury lifestyle publication, offering a sophisticated combination of fashion, beauty, health, philanthropy, arts and culture, cuisine, celebrity, and entertainment news.
 

Since the magazine’s inception, Courtenay has had the opportunity to work alongside A-list celebrities, world-renowned authors, public figures, and many others. One of her most celebrated memories is the famous July/August 2013 cover story featuring Christie Brinkley and then 15-year old daughter, Sailor. It was the first time the duo ever posed for a cover story together and it made headlines across the globe, including features on Vogue.com, “The View,” and “E! News.” In addition to Christie Brinkley, there have been countless celebrities who have graced the cover of BELLA, including Taraji P. Henson, Rob Lowe, Lisa Vanderpump, Nicky Hilton-Rothschild, Olivia Munn, Jessie James Decker, Jillian Michaels, President Donald Trump and Maria Shriver.
 

In January of 2016, Keith Kelly of the New YorkPost included BELLA New York in his ‘Media Ink’ column, explaining“While BELLA Media is not quite a rags-to- riches story just yet; it is at least a successful start-up in a generally unforgiving publishing world.” With that in mind, Courtenay is spreading her wings to the west coast with the recently launched (September/October 2016) BELLA Los Angeles. After adding TV Correspondent to her resume in 2015, with weekly segments for the nationally syndicated entertainment show, Celebrity Page TV, Courtenay and co-founder Daniel Hall launched BELLA TV in 2017. BELLA TV now brings the print pages to life through trending online content and weekly broadcasts from Starshop Studios in Times Square.

BELLA New York and Los Angeles can be purchased at over 250 Barnes and Noble locations in the northeast and west coast.