SHANNA MOAKLER: REDEFINING BEAUTY, CONFIDENCE AND WHAT IT MEANS TO FEEL LIKE YOURSELF AGAIN

LLM Staff Writer

3 days ago

11 min read

From Hollywood’s spotlight to empowering women through wellness, the actress, model, mother, and entrepreneur is embracing a new chapter and reminding women everywhere that their best years may still be ahead.

For decades, Shanna Moakler has been a familiar face in Hollywood. From beauty pageant stages and television sets to reality TV fame and red carpets, she has lived a life many only dream of. But behind the glamour, cameras, and public attention is a woman whose journey has been shaped by reinvention, motherhood, resilience, and the understanding that true confidence comes from much more than what the world sees on the outside.

Today, Moakler is stepping into what may be one of her most meaningful chapters yet. As cofounder of Hello Foxi, a women’s wellness brand that helps women navigate hormonal changes, menopause, weight management, intimacy, and overall well-being, she is using her platform to encourage conversations that have been kept quiet for far too long. And if there is one message women can take away from this new chapter, it is that getting older does not mean becoming less beautiful, less desirable, or less powerful. It can mean becoming more comfortable, more confident and more connected to the woman you were always meant to be.

For Moakler, this next act isn’t about leaving her Hollywood years behind. It’s about taking everything those years taught her and using it to help other women feel seen, understood, and supported.

From a Small Town Girl to Hollywood’s Spotlight

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Shanna Moakler’s journey into entertainment began with modeling and pageantry, where her natural beauty, confidence, and charisma quickly opened doors. In 1995, she became Miss USA, a milestone that introduced her to a national audience and helped launch a career spanning television, modeling, and entertainment.

But as anyone who has spent time in Hollywood knows, the spotlight comes with its own set of challenges. An industry built on beauty, youth, and public perception can be exciting and unforgiving, especially for women. Expectations are high, appearances are scrutinized, and tremendous pressure can mount to maintain an image even as life evolves behind the scenes.

Moakler’s career took her into acting, including her role as Monica Harper on USA Network’s popular television series Pacific Blue. The action-packed drama showed audiences another side of her talent and established her presence in television. She later became a household name through MTV’s Meet the Barkers, a reality series that offered viewers a look into her family life during her marriage to musician Travis Barker.

Long before social media made intimate glimpses into celebrity life an everyday occurrence, reality television was introducing audiences to the complicated balance between fame, relationships, parenting, and personal identity. Moakler was part of that early era, when inviting cameras into your home meant letting the public see moments far more personal than a carefully staged red-carpet appearance.

Through the years, she has experienced the highs and lows of public life, the changing landscape of entertainment and the constant evolution of what it means to be a woman in Hollywood. Yet her story has never been limited to the roles she played or the headlines written about her. It is also a story about continuing to grow when the cameras stop rolling.

The Beauty of Reinvention

Hollywood has long celebrated staying young. But what happens when women realize their greatest confidence might arrive with age?

For Moakler, reinvention has become an important part of her journey. There is something especially powerful about a woman who has spent much of her life being admired for her appearance deciding that her next chapter will focus on how women actually feel. Not simply how they look in photographs, whether they can fit into the same jeans they wore at 25, or whether they meet society’s constantly changing definition of beauty.

Instead, the focus shifts toward energy, emotional well-being, intimacy, self-confidence, and feeling comfortable in a body that naturally changes over time. For women entering their 40s, 50s and beyond, that message can be incredibly reassuring.

So many women spend decades caring for everyone around them. They raise children, build careers, manage households, nurture relationships and often put their own needs at the bottom of the list. Then, almost unexpectedly, their bodies begin to change. Sleep may become more difficult. Energy levels can fluctuate. Weight may shift despite familiar routines. Hormonal changes can affect mood, intimacy, and the way women feel about themselves.

And because these experiences have historically been discussed in whispers, many women are left wondering whether they are the only ones going through them. Moakler wants to help change that conversation.

Her own experience with hormonal changes and the frustration of searching for answers inspired something much bigger than another beauty or lifestyle brand. It became the foundation for Hello Foxi.

Hello Foxi: When Personal Experience Becomes Purpose

Sometimes the most meaningful businesses begin with a simple question. For Shanna Moakler, that question was: Where do women turn when their bodies are changing, and they simply want to feel like themselves again?

As she began navigating hormonal changes herself, Moakler encountered the uncertainty that so many women experience. Symptoms can overlap, information can feel overwhelming, and finding the right support isn’t always straightforward, especially when concerns involve several areas of health at once.

Rather than accepting that confusion as something women simply have to endure, she saw an opportunity to help create a more welcoming experience. Together with cofounder Greg Vaughan, Moakler created Hello Foxi, a women’s wellness brand built around a straightforward but meaningful mission: helping women feel their best at every age.

The company brings together a range of wellness pathways, including hormone and menopause support, weight management, skin and hair wellness, intimacy, energy, hormone testing, and peptide-related offerings. Hello Foxi emphasizes access to physician-guided care, with treatment options based on individual medical evaluations and suitability.

Its process is designed to be approachable, allowing women to explore their concerns through an initial quiz, review available options, connect with a physician, and develop a plan suited to their needs. Of course, women’s health is never one-size-fits-all. Hormonal treatments, medications, and other wellness interventions require thoughtful medical evaluation, and not every option is appropriate or necessary for every woman.

But beyond the services themselves, Hello Foxi's heart is the conversation it hopes to create. A conversation that says women deserve to ask questions, understand their bodies, and feel comfortable discussing intimacy, menopause, and the changes that accompany aging. Most importantly, they deserve to know that prioritizing their own health is not selfish. It is essential.

Let’s Talk About Menopause and Everything Else

For generations, menopause has been treated as a subject women should quietly navigate rather than openly discuss. That silence has left many women feeling unprepared for a transition that can affect nearly every aspect of daily life.

Moakler’s approach to Hello Foxi challenges that outdated mindset. Why should women feel embarrassed to talk about hot flashes, hormonal changes, weight fluctuations, or a changing sex drive? Why should conversations about sexual wellness feel uncomfortable when intimacy and connection are important parts of adult life? Why should women feel that wanting to look and feel attractive becomes less important as they grow older?

These are the kinds of questions that give Hello Foxi its purpose. The brand’s identity blends wellness with personality, glamour and a little playful confidence. It recognizes that women can take their health seriously without losing their sense of humor. They can embrace natural aging while still enjoying beauty treatments, fashion, and the things that make them feel fabulous.

They can be mothers, professionals, partners and entrepreneurs while still making room for their own desires and ambitions. Most importantly, they can acknowledge that their bodies are changing without treating those changes as personal failures.

Menopause is not the end of femininity. Getting older is not the end of attractiveness. A new stage of life doesn't mean the most exciting chapters have already been written. For many women, it can be the beginning of a much more authentic relationship with themselves.

A Hollywood Perspective on Beauty and Aging

Few industries place a greater emphasis on appearance than entertainment. For women who have built careers in front of cameras, the relationship between beauty, identity, and aging can be especially complicated.

Moakler knows firsthand what it means to work in an environment where physical appearance is part of the profession. From modeling campaigns to television roles and public appearances, her career has unfolded in a world where image matters. But the experience also gives her an important perspective on today's conversations about women.

Beauty is not a fixed moment in time. It evolves as women evolve. A woman's confidence in her 40s or 50s may look different from the confidence she had in her 20s, but that doesn't make it any less beautiful.

In fact, women who have lived enough life to understand their own worth can be particularly compelling. They have experienced heartbreak and happiness, professional victories and setbacks, motherhood, changing friendships and unexpected turns. They have learned which opinions matter and which ones deserve far less attention.

They understand that confidence is not necessarily about being the youngest person in the room. Sometimes it is about being the woman who knows exactly who she is.

Moakler’s evolution from Hollywood personality to wellness entrepreneur reflects that broader shift. Rather than allowing her career to be defined only by earlier achievements, she is building something connected to her current interests, experiences, and priorities. It reminds us that women don't have to remain the same person throughout their lives to be successful. They can change direction, discover new passions, and begin again.

Motherhood, Identity and Finding Yourself Again

As a mother of three, Moakler also understands the many identities women carry throughout their lives. Motherhood can be one of life’s most rewarding experiences, but it can also reshape how women see themselves.

For years, children's and family needs can take priority over personal goals, self-care, and individual ambitions. Many mothers eventually reach a point where they begin asking questions they haven’t considered in years. What makes me happy? What do I want this next chapter to look like? When was the last time I truly prioritized myself?

These questions aren’t signs of dissatisfaction. They can be signs of growth. They're especially relevant for women navigating motherhood alongside hormonal changes and the emotional transitions of midlife.

One of the most encouraging messages behind Moakler’s new venture is that women do not have to choose between caring for the people they love and caring for themselves. Both can exist together.

A woman can be devoted to her family and still want to feel sexy. She can be grateful for her life and still want to make changes. She can love being a mother while also embracing the parts of herself that exist outside of motherhood.

Personal ambition, romance, confidence, and self-discovery have no expiration date. Sometimes the greatest gift a woman can give her family is the example of valuing her own well-being.

Empowering the Next Generation of Women

Although Hello Foxi marks a new chapter in Moakler’s professional life, helping women build confidence is no new territory for her. She has remained involved in pageantry, serving as Executive Director of the Miss Nevada USA and Miss Utah USA programs, as well as their Teen USA counterparts.

The role connects her early career to her ongoing interest in supporting women. While pageantry is often associated with evening gowns, crowns, and physical beauty, it can also build public speaking skills, discipline, professional relationships, and confidence under pressure.

For young women preparing to step onto a stage, those experiences can become valuable lessons that extend well beyond a competition. And for someone who once stood on the Miss USA stage herself, Moakler brings a perspective shaped by years of navigating public attention and the entertainment industry.

A meaningful connection exists between encouraging a young woman to believe in her potential and encouraging a woman in midlife to reconnect with her confidence. Both start with the same idea: your worth isn't determined by someone else’s expectations.

Women can keep developing confidence throughout their lives, whether they are 18, 45, or 65. The circumstances may change, but the importance of believing in yourself never does.

Why Women Supporting Women Matters More Than Ever

One of the most encouraging changes in recent years is women's growing willingness to speak openly about subjects once considered too personal. Conversations about perimenopause, menopause, mental well-being, body image, and intimacy are becoming more visible.

Women are sharing their experiences, comparing notes, asking better questions, and encouraging one another to seek qualified medical guidance when something doesn’t feel right.

That sense of community matters because sometimes simply hearing another woman describe a familiar experience can make someone feel less alone. It can also encourage women to advocate for themselves when symptoms are dismissed or when they haven’t received the answers they need.

Moakler’s decision to share the personal inspiration behind Hello Foxi adds another recognizable voice to that conversation. Her public profile may have been built through entertainment, but the concerns that inspired her wellness journey are relatable to women from every walk of life.

You do not have to be a former Miss USA or a Hollywood actress to understand the frustration of feeling disconnected from your body. You do not need to live in the spotlight to want your confidence back. And you certainly do not need to apologize for wanting to feel healthy, attractive, and energized as you age.

The more women normalize these conversations, the easier it becomes for others to ask questions and seek support. That may ultimately be one of a brand like Hello Foxi's most valuable contributions: making conversations about women’s changing bodies feel less intimidating and more empowering.

More Than a Brand, a New Beginning

Entrepreneurship requires courage at any stage of life. It means stepping outside familiar roles, taking risks, and believing an idea can make a difference.

For Moakler, co-founding Hello Foxi represents an opportunity to turn personal experience into a business with a broader purpose. After years of working in entertainment, she is helping build something that speaks to an entirely different side of her identity.

The woman behind the television personality. The mother behind the glamorous photographs. The entrepreneur who understands that beauty and wellness are deeply personal.

Hello Foxi’s approach reflects the belief that women deserve choices, information, and individualized support, not a single definition of what feeling good should look like.

For one woman, that might mean exploring options for menopause symptoms with a qualified clinician. For another, it might mean addressing changes in sleep, energy, or intimacy. For someone else, it could simply begin with learning more about what is happening in her body.

Not every concern requires medication, and meaningful wellness can also involve nutrition, movement, sleep, relationships and mental health. What matters is helping women feel informed and empowered to make decisions that are right for them.

There's something refreshing about the idea that caring for your health doesn’t have to feel clinical or intimidating. It can be approachable, personal, and even fun.

The Best Chapter May Be the One You’re Living Now

People tend to look at women who have spent years in Hollywood and define them by their most recognizable moments. The beauty title. The television show. The famous relationship. The photographs that captured a particular era.

But a woman’s story is so much bigger than any single moment.

Shanna Moakler’s journey reminds us that the person we become later in life can be just as interesting, ambitious, and inspiring as the person we were when the world first met us.

Her Hollywood years are an important part of her story, but not the whole story. Today, she is embracing the opportunity to build something meaningful around an issue that affects millions of women.

In doing so, she is reinforcing a message that deserves to be heard more often.

Women are not supposed to stop evolving. They are not supposed to become invisible after a certain birthday. They are not supposed to accept feeling disconnected from themselves simply because their bodies are changing.

They deserve to continue learning, growing, laughing, loving, and feeling beautiful through every stage of life.

Perhaps the most powerful part of Moakler’s latest chapter is that it isn’t about trying to turn back the clock. It is about moving forward with confidence, appreciating the woman you have become while remaining excited about the woman you are still becoming.

It is about recognizing that glamour, ambition, motherhood, wellness, and self-love can all belong in the same beautiful, sometimes messy, always evolving life.

For women who have ever wondered whether their best years are behind them, Shanna Moakler’s story offers a welcome reminder: You are not finished becoming who you are.

You still have so much life to live, confidence to discover, and joy to experience. And sometimes, the most beautiful transformation isn’t about changing how you look.

It’s about finally giving yourself permission to feel like yourself again.