Our (His)story
It all started in October 2011, at a cafe in Beirut. After all, don’t all good ideas come to us while we are drinking coffee in good company?
It was a time when a lot of local news website, online magazines and blogs were being created in Lebanon, and we absolutely wanted to ride the wave.
Nathalie Kalache had the name, the concept, and the editorial line in mind; Elie Wehbe had the skills; and Abdo El-Asmar, the mastermind behind siyese.com at the time (now owner of Mr. International – no advertising intended ;)), was more than willing to help for the launch.
The French version of BelleBeirut.com was launched on 13 October 2011, and the English version followed 3 months later, in January 2012.
The project -initially created for fun, quickly garnered unexpected hype and popularity among our friends, families, and local audiences.
This prompted us to take it more seriously, and we eventually started working on figuring out a strategy and a mission for BelleBeirut.com.
We were quickly able to narrow down the subjects and topics we wanted to focus on as an online magazine. Guest contributors noticed us and got interested in writing for us (if you are too, click here now!).
Beloved local celebrities (Haifa Wehbe, Nancy Ajram, Myriam Fares, Elissa, to name a few) appreciated the content of our People News and shared them with their fans.
It wasn’t long before world-renowned international, regional, and local PR agencies, brands and companies got in touch for collaborations and partnerships.
Over time, BelleBeirut.com’s audience grew into a niche audience that is solely interested in the relevant articles we publish. We garner wide interest through the topics we tackle, but we were and still are determined to write about what interests us first and foremost.
We believe in quality content, and we believe in content that is relevant to the writer and his audience above all. We chose to invest in our content rather than in marketing BelleBeirut.com, because the online magazine’s main goal is not to generate profit – we have our jobs to thank for that.
The online world and social media are in constant evolution, and time will tell if we made the right decisions.
Our mission: Where beauty meets the city
BelleBeirut.com had a myriad of goals and mission as the project was launched, and we were shifting paradigms progressively trying to figure out what works best for us.
Initially we wanted to be an online magazine for women with articles about fashion, celebrity, health, beauty and relationships. Then, we included more diverse topics such as automotive, food, high-tech, lifestyle, and a useful city guide.
Despite this constant shift, our goal remained the same. To provide quality content for our audience and to promote anything related to Lebanon, and especially our dear capital Beirut.
After so many years, we realized that BelleBeirut’s purpose is in it’s own name: To show the beauty of Beirut to the world. The beauty of our culture, our food, our fashion, and our people.
If you love Beirut, we encourage you to discover our articles and share what you find interesting!
