The magazine has put together a commemorative issue aimed at celebrating beauty and to make a difference in the lives of women who want to progress against seemingly insurmountable odds.

To achieve this, the magazine has teamed up with Dermalogica and Sun International to raise funds for the joinFITE.org campaign (Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship), a global non-profit organisation that provides microfinance to women. The vision for this partnership is to raise funds and help FITE fulfil its aim of empowering more women. Through this initiative, Dermalogica wants to educate the public about the positive societal impact when a serious commitment is made to invest in women.

Dermalogica has already pledged donations by contributing a percentage of their sales to boost FITE’s funding. Says Gisele Wertheim-Aymes, publishing editor of Longevity: "Longevity was inspired by the work Dermalogica is doing with FITE.org and also wanted to help make a contribution to empower women in Africa to overcome the extreme odds they face. The joinFITE.org campaign, which aims to lend financial backing to 25 000 female entrepreneurs worldwide in 2011 and 2012 are critical micro loans giving women the opportunity to start their own businesses, a 'hand up, not a hand out'."

Five former holders of the Miss South Africa title - Karen Sickel-Wucherpfennig, Wilma van der Bijl, Amy Kleinhans-Curd, Kerishnie Naiker and Nicole Flint - donated their time to the FITE cause by featuring on the cover of Longevity, sharing their success stories, their views on health and wellness, beauty and anti-ageing tips, and also their advice to women who want to get ahead in life. These former beauty queens are all featured in the December commemorative issue of Longevity, themed 'In Celebration of Beauty'. “Our idea is to harness reader interest in the power of beauty over the ages to help raise funds and enable these role models to use their talents to help less privileged women who want to improve their lives,” says Wertheim-Aymes.