For more than a decade, Anna Beck has been documenting her life online—first as a college student with a love of baking and now as a St. Louis-based mother of three, attorney, and waterless beauty and low-tox living leader.
Beck’s simple baking blog has evolved alongside her life and passions into a multifaceted platform, and her work is now drawing national attention.
Beck, the founder of Urban Apron, is set to be featured in Time Magazine’s 2027 Women of the Year edition for her role in introducing waterless beauty to U.S. audiences—a milestone she describes as both surreal and deeply personal. The recognition builds on Time’s continued spotlight on Oliveda consultants, following their inclusion in the publication’s 2026 Women of the Year issue.
“I’m just a mom in St. Louis trying my best,” she says. “And then something like this happens, and it’s like, Wow.”
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Photography by Katie PrestemonPhotography by Katie Prestemon
Anna Beck is the founder of Urban Apron and an Oliveda consultant.
A Wellness Platform Built on Real Life
Urban Apron started more than 15 years ago, when Beck was studying journalism at Indiana University. At the time, it was a creative outlet, a place to share recipes and document her baking. But as her life changed, so did the platform.
After moving to St. Louis, going to law school, and starting a family, her content evolved to reflect the reality of juggling multiple roles. “It’s always felt really true to me because it’s real life,” she says. “And real life is multiple things.”
Today, Urban Apron blends recipes, motherhood, wellness, skincare, and lifestyle content in a way that feels less curated and more lived-in. “I’m really trying to show an approachable version of all of it,” she says. “We’re all just figuring it out, after all.”
Photography by Katie PrestemonPhotography by Katie Prestemon
Anna Beck is the founder of Urban Apron and an Oliveda consultant.
At the center of Beck’s platform is a philosophy she describes as “low-tox living,” a term that reflects a more realistic approach to wellness. For many people, she says, the idea of clean living can quickly become overwhelming. “It can send you down a rabbit hole,” she says.
Her approach is intentionally different. “Healthy living isn’t doing everything perfectly,” she says. “It’s making better choices more often than not.”
That mindset comes from experience. Beck first began exploring cleaner products after the birth of her oldest child, whose sensitive skin prompted her to rethink everyday items like lotion and skincare.
What followed was a gradual shift—one that unfolded over years, not weeks. “This has been an eight-year process,” she says.
Now, she encourages others to take the same long view. “If you’re even thinking about making a better choice, you’re already doing a good job,” she says.
Entering the Waterless Beauty Space
Her cleaner (not clean-only) philosophy has recently led Beck into a new and rapidly growing category: waterless beauty.
Photography by Katie PrestemonPhotography by Katie Prestemon
Anna Beck is the founder of Urban Apron and an Oliveda consultant.
The concept is one that she calls simple but transformative: Traditional skincare products are often made up of 70–90 percent water. Waterless formulations remove that base and replace it with concentrated, plant-derived ingredients, which can increase potency and reduce the need for preservatives.
“It’s looking at skincare in a completely different way,” Beck says.
She is now working to help grow awareness of the category in the U.S., particularly through her partnership with European-based brand Oliveda, which is built around olive-derived ingredients.
The work has quickly gained traction—and led to her upcoming Time feature. “It just shows that you can follow something you care about and it can lead somewhere meaningful,” she says.
Balancing it All
Behind the platform, Beck’s day-to-day life looks a lot like that of many St. Louis parents. She lives in University City with her husband and three children, balancing work, family, and a growing creative career.
That balancing act is something she talks about openly on her social media accounts. “It’s not possible to be perfect in every area,” she says.
Instead, she focuses on what feels sustainable—and what she wants her kids to learn from watching her. “I want them to see me doing things I love,” she says. “And I want them to know they can do the same.”
Photography by Katie PrestemonPhotography by Katie Prestemon
Anna Beck is the founder of Urban Apron and an Oliveda consultant.
That message has become a through line in her work, especially as she connects with other parents navigating similar challenges. “There’s so much pressure,” she says. “But we’re all just trying our best.”
Despite growing national recognition, Beck’s work remains grounded in her life here. She is active in her local community, organizes neighborhood events, and continues to build connections both online and in person. “It’s a great place to raise a family,” she says.
This sense of community is also shaping what comes next: In the future, Beck hopes to bring Urban Apron into a physical space—something like a bakery or café that reflects the same mix of food, connection, and everyday life that defines her platform. “A place that brings people together,” she says.
For now, her focus is simple: keep going. “I just keep showing up,” she says.
It’s a philosophy that has carried her from a college blog to a national platform—and one that continues to resonate with the audience she has built along the way.
Because for Beck, the goal has never been perfection. It’s something more attainable and more human.
“We’re all just doing the best we can,” she says.