Redefining Beauty

Sarah Dubbeldam ’05, a former catalog model for brands like Target and Crocs, wanted to promote positive body images and lifestyle habits for women. She founded Darling Media, and flagship publication Darling magazine, 在过去的十年里，是什么导致了女性在广告和时尚摄影中的形象发生了翻天覆地的变化.

“God created us all to look different,” Dubbeldam says. “This narrow definition of a look that’s beautiful needs to be broadened, and Darling has been part of doing that in the culture. I’m proud of that.”

Today, the wife and mother of two young children lives in Glendale, 她和同为企业家的丈夫生活在一起，像许多人一样兼顾着母亲和工作 Darling’s readers do.

“I really enjoy my days,” she says. “他们既要从高水平上监督品牌和使命，又要平衡孩子们的很多事情.”

Calling Out Strengths

Dubbeldam来自俄勒冈州的姐妹镇，一个大约有800人的小镇，她来到CUI学习 theatre他的目标是成为一名艺术指导，为电影搭建布景. She then switched her major to studio art with an emphasis in secondary education.

“I loved Concordia,” she says. “My friends and I had the best time. I had amazing professors, especially in the literature classes. I truly enjoyed writing and discovering my style and my voice. 这帮助我发现了自己的长处，并为我沟通和写作做好了准备.”

She worked as a writing tutor on campus, ran track 在CUI的四年里，她学会了时间管理和“如何做到优秀”.

“It was so formative to me, and really positive,” she says. “I was grateful to be there and wanted to get everything I could out of it. I met with my professors a lot after class.”

After graduating, she took an internship at Sony Pictures, then went to an open call at a top modeling agency, to earn extra money. 很快，她就成为了Crocs、Bass Pro、Kohl’s、Target等大型商店和品牌的模特. She appeared also in Super Bowl commercials and on billboards.

“I was considered successful in that spot, but I wasn’t happy,” she says. “I struggled with depression and anxiety.”

部分原因是时尚界一些人对待女性的方式:把她们ps成适合塑料的样子, unreal version of beauty, and monitored closely for how they look. 她回忆起在西好莱坞的经纪公司大楼里的会议，她的模特经纪人上上下下打量她，问她这样的问题, “一个大品牌对你很感兴趣，但看起来你的大腿胖了一点. We’d like to know what your workout plan is. What’s your routine lately? Are you feeling healthy?”

“It’s just a nice way to say you look fat,” says Dubbeldam. “I was extremely thin, and I thought this negativity might not affect me because I was a Christian, 但是你的关注点总是在你的外表上——走进一个房间，看到其他40个和你长得一模一样的女人:5英尺9英寸(约1.54米)。, 金发、卷发、绿眼睛的女人——让我意识到我错过了我的目标，没有做足够深入的事情. It’s great to act and model, 但它背后的精神是消极的，让我陷入了无目的的漩涡.”

Darling is the voice of a friend and a mentor to those who feel alone. It’s saying, here’s a different way to think and live.

Transforming Fashion

她和康考迪亚大学的校友凯利(莱恩)雷德菲尔德开始梦想创造一些不同的东西, 改变女性在时尚摄影和广告中的形象，减少女性因流行文化所定义的完美外表而讨厌自己外表的附带伤害. 从汉堡包到洗衣粉，把女性过度性感化，推销给人们的是“一种对美非常狭隘的定义，这不是上帝想给我们的。,” she says.

Those conversations became Darling, “an idea from God,” Dubbeldam calls it. In their pages, no one would be Photoshopped; rather the brand would dignify a broader ideal of beauty.

Darling’s Kickstarter campaign — pegged at a mere $15,作为这个融资平台上的首批女性品牌之一，她火了起来. Already blogging its vision of the world, in 2012 Darling magazine launched in print. 到第4期时，它们在著名的女装店Anthropologie出售. They also obtained the handle @darling on Instagram and grew their following quickly. 他们的使命宣言(见文末)已成为广受欢迎的宣言, and is the vision behind all the lifestyle products they now sell.

Today, Darling’s platform reaches half a million people per week. 她们登上了该杂志的第26期，并以该品牌为基础开发了一系列生活方式产品:蜡烛, greeting cards, puzzles, mirror decals, and a

“Darling Box” that offers a Darling 在盒子里的晚餐体验，有产品、dsamco和内容，可以创造有意义的聚会.

Just as important, from day one, Darling set a new standard for representing women. Dubbeldam预定了她在业内认识的模特，但没有对照片进行润色. She also created an atmosphere of respect.

“I knew what it was like to go in and be photographed,” she says. “I was going to talk to them, have our team be loving to them, to see them for more than how they look. It was really redemptive.”

Darling 还拒绝与过度性感化或推广抗衰老产品的品牌合作. Not only that, but every issue of Darling 可以放在咖啡桌上随便翻看，而不会有道德风险吗.

Dubbeldam说:“这对孩子来说是安全的，我们是业内唯一一家这样的杂志。. 实现这一愿景的勇气部分来自她的父母，他们也是企业家.

“我的父母支持我成为一个坚强、独立的思考者，”杜贝尔丹说. “I always see the world on a macro level: ‘Wow, these systems are really broken or this whole industry needs a change,’ and seek to find hopeful solutions. 我读过关于威廉·威尔伯福斯和其他人的书，他们改变了事物的运行方式. It’s actually possible. It takes one person and others get on board. I was inspired by that idea.”

The lens of everything we produce is to honor God and his view of women.

Over the years, Darling 成为了那些在生活中需要强有力声音的女性的代理导师. 

“Darling 是那些感到孤独的人的朋友和导师的声音。.

“它在说，在一个真正黑暗的世界里，有一种不同的思考和生活方式. For a lot of girls, we’re like their mom or guidance counselor. 他们在寻找答案，我们有希望和视角在他们需要的地方与他们见面.”

Joanna Gaines was the featured interview in Darling’s latest issue, and Vogue Greece recently produced its first unretouched cover. 莎拉和他们的编辑进行了友好的交流，以纪念这个重要的时刻. 大型百货公司也选择停止对商品目录和海报模型进行润饰.

“看到我们的文化是如何被打破的，以及女性和女性气质在我们的文化中是如何受到损害的，莎拉能够平衡这种悲伤, with hope and a vision for how that can meaningfully improve,” says Virginia Hawkins, Dubbeldam’s business partner and Darling Media’s COO. “She’s not a hand-wringer. 她是一个创造者，一个有远见的人，她带着希望领导别人加入她的使命.”

Sarah and her husband, Steve, 拥有两家公司，并热衷于基督徒创业，以一种救赎的方式影响文化. 

“It takes a lot of grit and knowing what your passion is, and doing it for the right reasons,” Dubbeldam says. 

Faith underlies her mission, in life and with Darling. “I live my life following Jesus and the Word. That dictates all my decisions and perspectives,” she says. “You won’t find heavy-handed Christian language [in Darling 杂志]，但我们制作的所有东西都是为了尊重上帝和他对女性的看法. 我们相信你可以在谦虚的同时做到百分之百的时尚和美丽, respectable, and strong at the same time.” 

To check out Darling’s products, content, and events, visit www.darlingmagazine.org and @darling on Instagram.

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Darling, you are a work of art.
You have the ability to fully display beauty apart from vanity, influence apart from manipulation, style apart from materialism, kindness apart from passivity, strength apart from competition & dignity without degradation.
你是一个催化剂，通过你的机智、智慧和性格来改变你周围的世界 & courage—all the while creating beauty & embodying love.
You are not only interesting, but original, not only good enough, but exceptional—not just here, but here for a purpose.