The Well Panel

About

Lena Sorensen is the reader's advocate on The Well Panel. While her colleagues evaluate efficacy data and ingredient safety, Lena asks the question that ultimately determines whether a product earns a place in someone's routine: is it actually worth living with?

She holds a master's degree in Health Communication from Northwestern and has spent eight years writing about wellness for publications including Well+Good, Byrdie, Outside, and Condé Nast Traveler. She is the primary author of our User Experience & Design pillar and the writer behind every Short Version section — the 60-second summary that gives readers a clear answer before they commit to the full review.

What makes Lena's perspective uniquely valuable is her background on the brand side. Before moving to editorial, she spent two years as a content strategist for a DTC wellness brand, which gave her a practitioner's understanding of how wellness marketing is constructed — and how to see through it. She is the most likely panelist to flag greenwashing, aspirational positioning that doesn't match product reality, and the gap between a brand's Instagram aesthetic and its actual customer experience.

She is a certified personal trainer (NASM-CPT) and has been a consistent practitioner of Pilates, yoga, and functional movement for over a decade. She tests every skincare and lifestyle product she reviews for a minimum of 60 days, because she believes that most skincare reviews are published too early to be meaningful.

Her reviews are the most widely read on the site. She writes the way she talks — direct, specific, and without the hedging that makes most wellness content useless.

Testing Philosophy

"Most wellness reviews are written after two weeks of use by someone who was excited about the product before they started. I test for 60 days minimum on skincare, and I try to be as boring about it as possible — same routine, same conditions, same lighting when I take progress photos. The products that still impress me at day 60 are the ones worth writing about. The ones that don't make it to day 60 are the ones worth warning people about."

Education

2017

MS, Health Communication

Northwestern University

2015

BA, English & Psychology

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Certifications

Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), NASM

Pilates Mat Certification, Balanced Body

Health Coach Certification, Institute for Integrative Nutrition

Areas of Expertise