From Burnout to Brilliance: This Is What Glow Really Means in 2025

By Dorey Duncan Scott

Let’s be honest—some women glow because they’ve never known anything else. The rest of us? We glow because we’ve been through it all. We’ve stood in the kitchen sobbing over medical bills, whispered affirmations into bathroom mirrors between caregiver shifts, and built empires out of our own exhaustion. We glow not because life has been easy, but because we chose not to disappear.

I’m Dorey Duncan Scott, founder of Voguegenics—a bold, sometimes glittery, always grounded lifestyle platform where self-care meets style, and reinvention is part of the routine. As of today, Voguegenics is read in 71 countries and one fiercely obscure territory (which feels like a badge of honor). It started as a soft rebellion against burnout—and has turned into a movement. It’s not a quiet, modest movement either. Voguegenics is a take-up-space, reclaim-the-stage, put-your-heels-back-on kind of movement.

This summer isn’t about aesthetics for me. It’s about amplification. I launched the Gen V Podcast, where we talk about what it means to show up as a whole woman—wrinkles, wisdom, war stories and all. I’ve expanded V’Empower, my health coaching wing, to support women navigating the tightrope between ambition and burnout. And I’ve introduced new glow-enhancing recipes and rituals, not for perfection, but for our own permission. Permission to rest. Permission to radiate. Permission to reclaim our power even when we’re exhausted.

Because the truth? Most of us are glow-ing through it. We are burnt out and brilliant. Tired and tenacious. Women who cry in parked cars and still walk into boardrooms, courtrooms and PTA meetings. Women who love fiercely, advocate loudly, and apologize way too much for taking up space that we’ve already earned.

We don’t glow because life is soft. We glow because we made a decision somewhere between disappointment and duty that we would not dim.

I live in rural Pennsylvania in a house that’s been in my family for three generations—complete with chickens, trees that know our names, and a view that has seen every version of me. But my brand energy? It’s unapologetically West Coast. Think sunshine, sequins, and soul work. Voguegenics is where feminine power gets dressed up and told to take the mic – center stage. It’s where your grief and your glamour coexist. It’s where women rediscover who they are, not who the world told them to be.

This summer, I’m showing up with more transparency than ever. And, no, not the kind of curated authenticity we see online, but the raw kind. The recognizable kind. The kind that says, "Yes, I cried this morning—but I still showed up." Through Voguegenics, I’m posting daily self-care tips, revealing the messy middle, and telling stories that women keep hidden because they’re afraid it will make them look weak. But here’s the truth—the softness you’re hiding is actually your strength.

Of course, I’m verified and have my blue check-mark on social platforms—but more importantly, I’m verified with a blue check-mark in my own spirit. And I’m here to remind every woman reading this: You do not have to earn your glow. You just have to stop hiding it.

Beauty in 2025 isn’t about looking 22. It’s about looking at yourself in the mirror and recognizing a woman who has been through hell and still radiates. It’s about setting boundaries that feel like velvet-wrapped steel. It’s about asking better questions: not “Do I look okay?” but “Do I feel powerful today?”

Being featured in She Wins Magazine is an honor—but more than that, it’s a confirmation. A confirmation that our stories—raw, real, radiant—belong in the spotlight. That reinvention deserves center stage. That our glow is a revolution.

To the woman who feels invisible: you are not. To the woman who’s tired of pretending she’s fine: you don’t have to. To the woman reading this who wonders if her light is too dim to matter: it isn’t. You’re still glowing. Maybe even more than you know.

And if no one has told you lately—your softness is not a weakness. Your voice is not too much. And your story? It’s not too messy to matter. We need more women who glow in real time, who lead from lived experience, and who aren’t afraid to say, "I’ve been through it—and I’m still radiant." That’s what changes the world. Not perfection, but presence. Not polish, but power. Your glow is the permission someone else needs to rise.

I think about the young women watching us—my sons' girlfriends among them. One of them too afraid to speak up, the other never taught how. They’re stepping into womanhood with a world full of filters, fear, and false expectations. And they’re watching us for cues. Watching how we speak, how we set boundaries, how we take care of our own and how we bounce back from heartbreak. 

I may not be doing everything right—but I am doing it with intention, heart, and one hell of a sincere try. Because if my glow gives even one young woman the courage to use her voice, set a boundary, or believe she's worthy before the world convinces her otherwise—then it's more than glow. It's legacy.

Come find your light again at voguegenics.com or on any platform @voguegenics. I built the glow room. You’re invited.

Connect With Dorey

www.voguegenics.com

www.voguegenics.bio