Champion for Change: Caggie Simonelli

Imagine waking up to find your precious tresses have completely fallen out. Would you be able to face society and its conventional notion of beauty? Caggie Simonelli, a self-described "urban revolutionist," wants to help other women do so. She is the founder of BÔLD, a nonprofit organization to support women who have lost their hair as a result of chemotherapy, sickness or personal choice. "BÔLD is an initiative dedicated to inspire, support and empower bald women, as well as bring them into the forefront of fashion," she says.

Since forming BÔLD in 2001, Simonelli has focused on multimedia projects that include a Web site, a book of photography, an exhibition and a documentary film. She also conducts workshops for bald women. "Most women who lose their hair shut down and feel lost," she says. "I help them go through the process of finding themselves, which involves going through different stages, like face, fashion, health and spirituality."

Simonelli is the perfect leader for BÔLD, not only because she has nearly two decades of fashion experience (she's currently vice president of design for Donna Karan), but also because she was diagnosed with alopecia, natural hair loss, at the young age of eight. "This is my personal journey," she says. "I've struggled with this all my life and faced feelings of loneliness, isolation and self-pity. It wasn't an easy task, but I finally discovered the courage to be bald."

Even though BÔLD is directed at women without hair, Simonelli wants to spread her message to all women, bald or not. "The bottom line is, it's about self-acceptance, to which we all can relate," she says. Simonelli hopes to establish new icons of female beauty through her high-profile campaign and contributions from top fashion and beauty professionals, but she says the ultimate goal for her organization is a simple one: "I want to see bald women incorporated into the world. Then we all can say, 'I have brown hair, I have blond hair, I have red hair, I have no hair.'"

To learn more about BÔLD, visit http://www.boldisbeautiful.com.

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