Daily Front Row

2010 February 15

What About Bob?

Comments | | Print

One person actually asked me for my autograph, but they thought I was Anna.

Are you a fashion addict?

No.

No?

Don’t get me wrong, I love clothes. My closet is really, really nice. Isaac Mizrahi actually came and looked at my apartment and was obsessed
with my closet.

Back to your new title…

Senior vice president, chief brand officer.

What does that mean?

My new boss at Hachette, Alain Lemarchand, had the idea that, in the 21st century, magazines must be brands, someone has to be the head of that brand, and if you put someone in charge of it who is sensitive to both the editorial and sales, you’ll drive the enterprise forward. So last March he promoted three of us to chief brand officers, and I was lucky enough to get Elle. Someone else has the same job at Women’s Day. The biggest change was that edit now reports to me.

I noticed your name is actually at the top of both the editorial and publishing mastheads. Please explain!

Isn’t that amazing? You turn one page and then you turn the other. I was going to go with Carol Smith on one and Carol A. Smith on the other. [Laughs] It was Alain who really wanted that because he wanted to make the statement that I am not just the publisher. Years ago the publisher meant the publisher; then the publisher became the best sales person in the office, so you needed a new title, and that was president. When I was at Parenting I was at the top of one masthead and the bottom of the other.

How is your job different from, say, Anna’s?

Previous 1 2 3 Next