What was it that made you want to work in the publishing industry?

I grew up with magazines, but it didn’t occur to me that people worked on them. My sister won a writing competition in a magazine called More and she changed careers from being a lawyer to a magazine journalist. I remember she used to come home with dispatches about how wonderful it was, and I was sold from that moment on.

Could you chart your career from the beginning to where you are now?

I chose a London university and studied French and English, with the sole purpose that it would allow me to do work experience at magazines throughout my entire time. By the time I graduated, I had a book to show people the work that I had published. I got a job on Woman&Home and after that I changed jobs and jumped around. Woman&Home was an older woman’s magazine and I wanted to start working on a magazine that was for my age group. I went to Good Housekeeping to Eve magazine and then to Glamour magazine. I then moved to Australia and worked on Marie Claire and a magazine called Madison and then I came back to London. Hearst was launching a magazine called Women’s Health in 2012, which had been a success in America, and they believed could be a massive success in the UK. I started with a tiny team and we had 6 weeks to put the magazine together from scratch, and we had to sell 100,000 copies from the first issue. I think we sold 104,000 copies and it went on to be massively successful. After Women’s Health I went to Cosmopolitan for three fun-filled, fearless years and then I took on ELLE UK 6 months ago which was the magazine I always read growing up.

Who was on the cover of the first issue of Women’s Health?

Kate Beckinsale. It was really tricky to get anyone on the cover of the first issue because it was a health magazine, but we wanted a celebrity, in a dress. 

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

Launching Women’s Health with a tiny budget, a minuscule team, all the odds stacked against us and yet creating a magazine which is widely loved. It was also the first time that I was an editor. I didn’t know if I would be any good, as most of my life I thought I would be a writer. I discovered on Women’s Health that I was better at the bigger picture, which was a real revelation.

What is the most challenging thing about transitioning as editor to a different magazine and taking on a new readership?

I have always gone into it thinking that you must understand the magazine’s brand values and bend to them while also being creative. As an editor, the minute you start thinking a reader is a certain way and that they only respond to a certain voice, is the minute you trap yourself. The dream for any magazine is that anybody of any gender should be able to pick it up and spend at least 25 minutes with it. If you are creating really interesting stories, then it will appeal to anyone. It’s less about who the reader is and more about what the brand values are. That is why every time I go into a brand, I look at the very first issue, because that tells you the entire recipe of the brand. You then reinterpret it for the culture you grew up with. For Cosmo for example, it was never about sex. It was about fearless career women who happened to have great sex.

What was on that very first cover of Cosmo?

The first British one was a red cover. I can’t remember who was on it, but it was very bold, very graphic, bright red and sexy. The cover lines were really enticing, and I remember taking it home and my husband seeing them and wanting to read some of the stories. That goes back to my point that if your features are brilliant or your fashion shoots are memorable, then anybody should be able to read it. You can get readers from anywhere, but you have to be loyal to your brand.

What cover have you been most proud of in your career?

Kate Beckinsale on Women’s Health because it was so hard won. We were up until the wire and we really wanted her, but it took a lot of convincing. There was no track record and there was nothing to show her agents.
The reality is, if you are pushing yourself as an editor, your favourite cover should be the one you have just done. You should be constantly learning from each one. The one we are about to put out is probably one of my favourites ever and that’s how it should be.

And you of course won PPA Cover of the Year for your Cosmopolitan cover of the model, Tess Holliday.

I am immensely proud of that cover as well because it is beautiful, and it started a global conversation. That is the point of covers, and I guess that is why it won because it got people talking and challenged people’s own prejudices. It was very powerful.

How open are the channels of communication with the other ELLE editors around the world?

It’s a close network. I get on really well with the editors of ELLE France, ELLE Italy and ELLE Germany. We are particularly close with the European ones because there is a shared culture among us. Nina Garcia at ELLE US is really collaborative as well. We are stronger when we are together, and I know that I could pick up the phone to any of them and they would have my back. It’s like a family.

What advice would you give your younger self starting out as editor at Women’s Health?

It’s OK to be a quiet leader. At first, I didn’t think that was the template for success whereas now I have realised that there isn’t one style of leadership that works and being yourself is the best way. It’s also OK to be wrong. People think that you have all the answers but sometimes, when you hold up your hand as a leader and say you don’t know but that you’ll figure it out, that’s OK as well.

How do you handle your deadlines?

Badly. I cram. You have to give me a deadline as I need pressure to go with my natural instinct.

What is the worst piece of advice you have ever received?

Don’t move jobs too often.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

When I was going through a bad patch in my editorship, I engineered it so I could meet Tina Brown and she gave me some amazing advice, but I wish I had her phone number. She is very open and honest.

What is the last photo on your phone?

My dog on the sofa and I didn’t have a seat to watch the television. That’s the hierarchy in my family.

What would be in your Room 101?

Boomerang videos.

Introvert or Extrovert?

Naturally I’m an introvert.

Optimist or Pessimist?

An optimistic pessimist.

Film or TV?

Film

Sweet or Savoury?

Sweet

What magazine subscription would you give to someone this Christmas?

Any of the one’s I have edited, because I have poured my soul into them and hopefully there is some trace left behind. It would be a very personal subscription.