Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news highlighting women’s roles, contributions, and achievements in the evolving media business. This latest installment covers a woman-owned firm driving changes in Silicon Valley hiring practices, a Q&A with the first female EIC at a major sports magazine, the new hosts of the popular cooking show “America’s Test Kitchen,” The Washington Post’s showcase of archived articles about women, and more.
- Paradigm shift Fortune recently profiled attorney Joelle Emerson (pictured), founder of Paradigm, a company that’s becoming the “go-to” consultancy for tech companies looking to remedy their diversity problem. “I wanted to help companies that want to get it right rather than suing companies that get it wrong,” she says. According to the article, Emerson is building an impressive client roster—including big platforms like Airbnb, Pinterest, Slack, and online education startup Udacity—by developing solutions based on data, the language of tech firms. In addition to evaluating recruiting processes, Emerson and her team use proprietary algorithms to analyze HR data, showing where companies are falling short in their hiring practices and where opportunities exist to hire more female, African-American, and Latino workers. “It’s been game changing,” says Abby Maldonado, a diversity programs specialist at Pinterest. For example, she says female intern hires have increased in one year from 32% to 53% thanks to Paradigm’s recommended changes to its campus recruitment activities. At Airbnb, engineering head Mike Curtis says Emerson’s data analytics approach “doesn’t come from a place of judgement” but rather has been an effective tool in shifting hiring practices at the company.
- Wait, really? In February, ESPN The Magazine named Alison Overholt editor in chief, making her the first female to be chosen for the role at a national sports publication. In a Folio interview, she said it was stunning to realize that her appointment made her a first in the field: “Stunning in that it’s 2016. It seems almost unimaginable that in this year, that could still be a thing.” With today’s fans spanning a wide set of demographics, Overholt emphasized the need to bring “new voices” to sports publishing, including more coverage of women’s sports. In addition to her new duties, Overholt will maintain her ongoing role as editorial chief at espnW, which recently relaunched its website with a new architecture and mobile-friendly design.
- Cooking up content If you’re a fan of “America’s Test Kitchen,” you’ve likely heard that founding host Chris Kimball won’t be returning to the popular public television cooking show after this season. Happily, familar faces will be filling his spot: longtime executive food editors and test cooks Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster. The pair will begin filming as hosts in May, with the new episodes airing in 2017, according to The Boston Globe. Along with the cast change, the fast-growing publishing company is leveraging new technology and content processes to drive innovative product launches and greater efficiencies across its platforms—including the TV show, websites, magazines, cookbooks, and an online cooking school. Download TFP’s case study for details on its new approach to content delivery and audience engagement.
- #womenbywomen The Washington Post celebrated women’s history month in March by opening up its archive of stories about women, written by women. In a Medium post, WaPo’s Julia Carpenter shared some of those selections, from Lynn Darling on Maya Angelou (1981) to Stephanie Mansfield on Lauren Bacall (1988) to Donna Britt on Alice Walker (1989). While just a small sampling, together the excerpts offer a fascinating look at some of the most fascinating women of our time.
- Reflecting real lives Two years ago, Getty Images and LeanIn.org created the Lean In Collection, a source of images that brands and small businesses can use to “expand the visual representation” of women and girls, according to the website. As part of their effort, the partners recently announced the winners of a competition that asked participants to show in imagery how they see females breaking stereotypes. “The more images we see of women leading. . .the more normalized those images become in our actual lives,” the site says. Check out the winning images, showcased in the Lean In Collection on iStock by Getty Images.
Hiring news roundup
- Jill Abramson, former executive editor of The New York Times, will officially join The Guardian as a political columnist, covering the U.S. presidential race.
- Margaret de Luna was appointed president of TheStreet. She most recently was vice president of product at Praetorian Digital and before that worked for MarketWatch.
- Brooke Ellis joined Condé Nast as executive director, digital design and UX. She previously was the creative director at Frog, a design company.
- Stephanie Fried is now senior vice president of research and analytics at Condé Nast. Fried previously worked at Discovery Communications, where she was vice president of digital insights and marketing.
- Laura Helmuth was named digital news director at National Geographic Partners. Previously, she was a writer and science and health editor at Slate.
- Anna Holmes, a founding editor of Gawker’s Jezebel blog, was hired by First Look Media to create and run a new media property focused on commissioning and curating visual work from independent creators.
- Vicky Lowry is the new editorial projects director at Architectural Digest. Before her move, Lowry worked as the features director at Hearst’s Elle Decor, Veranda, and House Beautiful.
- Elizabeth Webbe Lunny was hired by The New York Times as publisher of T Magazine. Prior to her appointment, she was associate publisher at Women’s Health and held positions at Vogue, Condé Nast, and WWD.
- Maura Lynch moved to Women’s Health, where she will serve as beauty and lifestyle director. She previously was senior beauty editor at InStyle.
- Claudia Malley was appointed chief marketing and brand officer at National Geographic Partners, in charge of brand marketing, membership, and market research. Previously, Malley oversaw all global corporate partnerships and sponsorships as an executive vice president of the National Geographic Society.
- Amy Marks was promoted from head of client solutions to global head of advertising sales marketing at Bloomberg Media.
- Marcela Martin was named National Geographic Partners’ new chief financial officer, overseeing finance, accounting, and budget planning. Prior to her appointment, she was executive vice president and CFO at Fox International Channels.
- Kimberly Miller was hired for the chief marketing officer role at Consumer Reports. Miller was vice president of digital marketing at J.Crew Group.
- Nilou Motamed was named editor of Time Inc.’s Food & Wine. Previously, she was editor in chief of Epicurious and before that held positions at Conrad Hotels and Travel + Leisure.
- Laura Nichols joined National Geographic Partners as senior vice president and chief communications officer. Nichols comes from the Motion Picture Association of America, where she served as executive vice president of global communications.
- Betty Wong Ortiz, former editor in chief of Fitness magazine, joined Bon Appetit as director of strategy and operations.
- Candice Rainey was promoted to executive editor at Traveler, where she previously served as deputy editor.
- Cait O’Riordan, previously vice president of product at Shazam, joined The Financial Times as chief product and information officer.
- Stellene Volandes was promoted to the editor in chief role at Town & Country, where she has served as executive style director since 2014.
- Linda Wells, founder of Condé Nast’s Allure, has joined Hearst to produce content for several of its magazines, including Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, and Town & Country.
- Karen Wickre resigned her post as Twitter’s editorial director to pursue consulting work. Before joining Twitter four years ago, Wickre worked in communications and public affairs for Google.
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Amy Wilkins is rejoining Smithsonian Media Group as chief revenue officer, overseeing growth strategies for publishing, digital, video, and events. Wilkins served as publisher of Smithsonian magazine from 2000 to 2005.
- Julee Wilson, a former editor at The Huffington Post, is the new digital fashion and beauty director at Essence.
Let us know in the comments if there are any other recent stories or career moves you’d like us to include in our next Women in Media roundup.
Photo: Fortune
Technology for Publishing’s Women in Media blog highlights the news and achievements of female leaders and role models in the publishing and media industry. Look for our in-depth profiles and interviews of top women to watch. Is there someone you’d like to nominate for an upcoming Q&A? Drop us a note!
Posted by: Monica Sambataro
