Danucera Diaries
Entry 34: Anna LaPlaca
Tell us more about yourself…
I'm a senior fashion editor based in New York, but before landing here, I spent the early years of my career in L.A. I've been on the team at Who What Wear where I cover all things luxury fashion, runway, and emerging brands while also developing a travel vertical for the site. My love of art, film, and travel—but above all, taste and discernment—is what informs my work, which is why I was immediately drawn to Danucera's streamlined, no-frills approach to skincare.
When you think about this year ahead, what are you most excited to make time for?
Family and friends. I became an aunt last year to the most perfect nephews and niece and I'm excited to spend more time with them, especially right now as they're in a different growth phase every month. I'm so grateful that my work has taken me to some of the most incredible places across the world, but I'm looking forward to carving out more time to travel intentionally with friends this year, too.
I was immediately drawn to Danucera's streamlined, no-frills approach to skincare.
— Anna LaPlaca —
Q: You’ve interviewed so many people at different stages of their careers. What’s one piece of advice that stuck with you and quietly reshaped how you move through your own work?
Anna: "Such a great question! Recently, I had the immense pleasure of having breakfast with Diane Von Furstenberg. She spoke about her prolific career, doling out nuggets of life and love advice along the way. She insisted that the key to success in anything is knowing exactly what you want and being steadfast in that vision, and something about that has stuck with me since. "You have to design the architecture of your own life," is how she put it."
Q: January has a way of making people rethink how they spend their time. What’s one habit you quietly let go of this year, and what did it make room for instead?
Anna: "Cliché as it may sound, I've taken a break from social media since the start of the year and I've truly never felt better. I have so much more time on my hands now! I'll come back to my feeds eventually but I've loved how much reading I've been doing instead this month. I've gotten through three books on my stack and hope to continue the trend throughout the year. There's just something about physical media that will never be replaced my a screen, I'm afraid. "
Q: You’re constantly discovering new brands and ideas. How do you balance staying open to newness while staying grounded in what you already know works?
Anna: "There are certain questions I always ask myself when pitching and writing my stories and editing the work of other writers. Does it have a story to tell? Have I heard my friends or peers talking about it? Seen people discussing it online? I've learned to always keep an ear to the ground, so to speak, and more often than not that means being a little chronically online for the sake of being tuned in. I've also just learned how to trust my own instincts—sometimes it's as simple as a gut feeling."
Q: How did Danucera first come onto your radar, and what made you curious enough to actually try it?
Anna: "I sat next to Danuta at Kate Barton's show during NYFW last season, which was my first intro into Danucera and then I tried the products during a facial at Rescue Spa. At the suggestion of my esthetician, I paused everything else I was using for a two-week test period and used only 3 Danucera products to get my skin back on track. That was back in September and I haven't looked back—my skin has never been this consistently clear."
Q: The Danucera 5-Step Method is all about consistency over excess. How does that philosophy show up in how you approach your own routines, beyond skincare?
Anna: "I'm obsessed with the simplicity of the Danucera routine. It's comforting to follow a regimen and know that if I take certain steps, I'll see results. It's inspired me to take all the guesswork out of other areas of my life and implement simple but consistent routines, and right now I'm focusing on creating an equally simple but effective morning routine. I wake at 7am, do a quick seated meditation, and go on a 30-minute walk before I do anything else. The Danucera method has taught me that less is more and consistency is king."
Q: You’re known for having a sharp editorial eye. If you had to “edit down” your skincare to just one Danucera product, which would make the final cut and why?
Anna: "An impossible choice, of course, but if I *had* to choose just one, it would have to be the D22 Tonic. It's incredibly potent and has been the number-one product that has helped me achieve (and maintain) some of the clearest skin I've ever had. If I skip it for more than two days in a row, I definitely notice a difference."
Q: What’s something you’re proud of yourself for right now?
Anna: "Right now, I'm on a journey of coming back to my own creativity and reconnecting with some of the things that have always inspired me. That means taking myself on museum dates and revisiting my film photography practice. It feels so good to create just for the sake of it, no expectations or deadlines attached."
Q: What’s something you’ve learned about yourself in the last year that surprised you a little?
Anna: "I've always believed that "thoughts become things" but this last year taught me to reframe the concept of impossible in a new way. On a whim, I signed up to run the NYC Marathon (my first ever race, mind you) and training for it and crossing the finish line has rewired my brain in such a fascinating way. I keep thinking, what else have I considered to be "impossible" that I could actually accomplish. It's broken my world open in the best way."
