Insider’s Guide to Spas, launched in 2013, is the industry’s most trusted authority on spa culture—past, present, and future. Founded by Mary Bemis, whose career has been devoted to protecting, interpreting, and advancing spa culture, the platform exists to keep spa culture alive and to uphold its timeless truths at a moment when depth, integrity, and discernment matter more than ever.
From historic bathing traditions and modern spa leadership to intelligent beauty and restorative travel, Insider’s Guide to Spas offers clear-eyed guidance—free from hype, trends-for-trends’ sake, or commercial noise. This is spa journalism with a lineage, rooted in a centuries-old tradition of drawing on water, ritual, and place as enduring sources of wisdom and renewal.
About Our Founder
Mary Bemis is a spa media entrepreneur and founding steward of spa culture. Over the course of her career, she has launched influential publications, built professional platforms, convened and strengthened regional spa communities, mentored industry leaders, and helped define the language, standards, and connective tissue through which spa culture is understood today. Her work is rooted in the belief that spa is not a trend or category, but a living cultural tradition shaped by water, ritual, place, and human connection.
In 1997, Mary launched American Spa magazine, followed by the co-founding of Organic Spa magazine in 2007. She has served on the Boards of Directors of the International Spa Association (ISPA) and the New York Spa & Wellness Association (NYSPA), and was part of the launch teams for Luxury SpaFinder and New Beauty. She is also a Founding Board Member and Symposium Chair Emeritus of the Washington Spa Alliance (WSPA), where she helped bring regional spa leaders into sustained dialogue and shared purpose.
Mary’s contributions to spa journalism and industry leadership have been widely recognized. She is an inaugural honoree of Folio’s Top Women in Media Award, where Folio noted that she is “reshaping the way people look at spa journalism—bringing depth, clarity, and relevance to what matters most.” She has also been named a “Wonder Woman of Wellness” by American Spa and received ISPA’s Dedicated Contributor Award. In 2023, she was honored as a Top 30 Influential Voice Transforming Wellness by Medika Life.
A longtime advocate for sustainability in spa and beauty, Mary launched and co-curated Cosmoprof North America’s Discover Green section from 2015 through 2025, helping to elevate standards and visibility for environmentally responsible brands within the global beauty industry. In 2025, she created and curated Spa & Wellness Talks for Premiere Beauty, a thought-leadership series designed to bring depth, context, and spa-rooted intelligence to the professional beauty and wellness stage.
Mary serves as a longstanding Special Advisor to the nonprofit Global Wellness Day and is a Board Member of the Sauna Aid Foundation. She has also served on the editorial advisory boards of Shape, Spirituality & Health, and Premier Spas, appears regularly in national media, and speaks at leading consumer and trade events worldwide.
Through Insider’s Guide to Spas, Mary continues her life’s work: protecting, interpreting, and advancing spa culture with discernment, integrity, and historical depth.
Contact
Email: Mary@InsidersGuidetoSpas.com
About Our Team
Michael Picón, Creative Director
Michael Picón has been the creative force behind Insider’s Guide to Spas since its earliest days, shaping the publication’s distinctive visual language with restraint, intelligence, and enduring elegance.
With more than two decades of experience leading and mentoring design teams, Michael is widely respected for his mastery of publication design, digital platforms, and content-driven storytelling. His work translates complex editorial vision into refined, intuitive design—never decorative, always purposeful.
Michael’s career spans some of the most design-forward media and cultural institutions, including Vogue, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Calisto Media, and the Tory Burch Foundation. Across print and digital, his approach is guided by clarity, craftsmanship, and a deep respect for mission-led work.
At Insider’s Guide to Spas, Michael ensures that every page reflects the values at the heart of the brand: editorial integrity, cultural depth, and beauty with meaning
Becca Hensley, Editor at Large
A lifelong seeker, captivated by the mystery of the impalpable, Editor at Large Becca Hensley is a prolific spa and travel writer and widely published essayist and poet. She has written for Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, Gourmet, and Travel +Leisure, among hundreds of other, magazines, newspapers, and journals. As Insider’s Guide to Spas’ Editor at Large, Becca delves deeply into the world of spas and healing. Inspired by her ex-pat grandfather, an amateur herbalist, Austin-based Becca has been interested in spas since she was a child and concocted her first egg, honey, and diatomaceous earth mask. She believes a good story draws you in like laughter in a crowded room, and challenges you to do it justice.
Stephen Kiesling, Editor at Large
Editor at Large Stephen Kiesling was a founding editor of American Health and Spirituality & Health, where he recently stepped down as Editor in Chief. He was the youngest member of the 1980 US Olympic Rowing Team and the oldest competitor at the 2008 Olympic Rowing Trials. A Scholar of the House in Philosophy at Yale, Stephen is the author of several books, including The Shell Game, Walking the Plank, and The Nike Cross Training System. He has written for The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, and Outside, has been featured in The New York Times and The Boston Globe, and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, including Today and All Things Considered.
Dana Wood, Contributing Beauty Editor
Dana Wood has been writing about beauty and wellness for decades and spent a total of 20 years at Condé Nast, serving as Beauty Director for three of its publications (W, Cookie, and Brides). A transplanted New Yorker, Dana now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. When she’s not playing tennis, she writes frequently for The Wall Street Journal and Alexa, a luxury style section published by The New York Post. Her peak spa experience? Dana says it’s impossible to decide between the Coco-Mango Body Buff at the Driftwood Spa at Jakes in Treasure Beach, Jamaica, The Land of Beautiful Waters Anti-Aging Facial at Four Seasons Nevis and the 80-minute 5 Senses massage at the Spa by JW in Marco Island, Florida.
