A Message from the Associate Publisher Alexander Hafizi – Cheers to 20 Years of élite Magazine

èlite Magazine started in 2003 with the idea of showcasing the finer things in life and in the Santa Clarita Valley. When we first started it was full of events that highlighted the who’s who of our community, this helped everyone to really get to know each other. We continue to feature those events to this day. We also had a concierge section where we featured an abundance of dining, shopping, entertainment, hotels and events, all in a listing as an information center. It’s amazing how many things we have done in the last 20 years. We started to introduce special sections such as Everything About Religion, Health & Wellness, Around the Home, Bridal and Beauty, to name just a few. These sections featured local businesses with profiles about the owners and their accomplishments. We have brought you engaging editorials about culture, entertainment, lifestyle, fashion and personalities that embody only the best of the Santa Clarita Valley. Our fashion shoots feature high-end fashions from all of over including from our beloved Margo Miller who sadly passed away in December 2022. Over the last 20 years we have featured many amazing celebrities on our cover, people who had a tie with our community such as Chris Schauble, Taylor Lautner, Nigel Lythgoe, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tyler Posey, Allyson Felix, Willie Nelson, LeAnn Rimes, Shanola Hampton, Mark Pellegrino, Karli Webster, Zakk Wylde and so many more. Included in every issue we have personal and business profiles showcasing some of the fantastic people and businesses, the best in local dining, weekend getaways, private tours of million-dollar homes, the latest in fashion trends, all things wedding with our èlite Wedding editions, where we have featured catering tips, show stopping locations, destination weddings, local brides and grooms, bridal beauty tips, wedding inspirations, latest wedding trends, honeymoon destinations, boudoir, International bridal traditions and so much more. We have featured love stories from couples in our community, which is always so much fun.
We have had some fantastic columnists writing for us throughout the years like Julie Berger with her Oh La Love column. Eve Bushman with her Eve Wine 101 where she shares her extensive knowledge of wines and more. Holly Schroeder who discusses the economy of our City. The City of Santa Clarita also has two columns in our magazine, SCV Reel Talk talking about all the amazing filming going on around town and Santa Clarita Art Commission that covers the fun art projects around the SCV. Claudia Sheridan was a regular writer with her Be Social and Join in the Conversation columns where we learnt about the do’s and don’ts of social media. We enjoyed baking with Tina Costello where Tina would share her delicious baking recipes for all of us to try. Nadine Young was also in the kitchen and gave us recipes of some of her favorite dishes and we now have Larry McClements who wants us all to cook and eat healthy and buy fresh produce from our local farmers markets. Our newest contributing writer is Carol Rock who submits really cool stories about the history of the SCV history. All of our writers have provided or still provide a great learning opportunity and life skills to us all. We hope you will continue to read them as the years go by.
In 2011 we started our Ultimate Awards with four categories our Ultimate Dining, Beauty, Fitness and Home. In 2015 we added Ladies in Business and Business categories. In 2016 we added Bridal and in 2018 Medical. In 2019 we thought the Kids Services and Gentleman in Business deserved some love too, so we added them. We now have a total of ten categories and over 200 winners each year. These awards are meant to recognize the hard working businesses in our town and our followers and readers always surprise us with their amazing support, our Ultimate Awards are my favorite thing about èlite. The voting process is always so fun too. Right now you can vote on four different categories, Ultimate Beauty, Bridal, Fitness and Business awards, please go to our website and nominate someone you love or vote for your favorites.
We hope you have enjoyed the last 20 years with us and we hope to have many more to come. Without the support of our readers, followers and advertisers we would not be able to do what we do. So thank you for being a part of all the action! Thank you for allowing us to be a staple here in Santa Clarita and to continue to grow with you all. Please follow us on social media so we can get to know each other even more.
And one last thought, we know everybody has a great story, so please contact me if you know someone who deserves to be recognized, I’m just a phone call away!

Cheers to 20 years…
– Alexander Hafizi​

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