Jessica Giles

Last updated
Jessica Giles (formerly Pels)
Born (1986-09-06) September 6, 1986 (age 37)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEditor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine

Jessica Giles (formerly Pels) (born September 6, 1986) is the current editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine. She served as digital director for marieclaire.com from 2014 until 2018, when she became digital director and later that year the chief editor of Cosmopolitan.

Contents

Early life and background

Giles grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. She first moved to New York City at the age of 14 to study ballet at the American Ballet Theatre. [1] Giles earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film production at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. [2]

Career

Early editing career

After graduating, Giles interned at The New Yorker and then Vogue . She later began working as an editorial assistant at Condé Nast. Giles served as the assistant to Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive before being promoted to assistant editor a year later, and then associate editor at Glamour. [3] She became the print features editor at Teen Vogue in March 2013. [4] [5] In November 2014, Giles joined Hearst Magazines as digital director at Marie Claire, where she served for three years. [4] [6] [7] At Marie Claire she spearheaded features on a wide range of women's topics from profiles of the women who guard our nuclear weapons, to an essay on feminism from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. [8]

Cosmopolitan

In January 2018, Giles was appointed digital director of Cosmopolitan magazine. By the end of May she had revamped the magazine's digital presence. [9] Cosmopolitan saw an increase in traffic from 15 million visitors a year in February 2018 to 41 million visitors a year later, and digital subscriptions grew 185% from 85,060 to 242,075 between December 2016 and December 2018. [10] In October 2018, Giles was named editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan. As editor-in-chief, Giles oversees the print magazine, website, video, social, Snapchat and product extensions of the brand. [3] [11]

In 2019, Giles was named Adweek's Editor of the Year. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cosmopolitan</i> (magazine) American fashion and culture magazine

Cosmopolitan is an American quarterly fashion and entertainment magazine for women, first published based in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, since 1965, has become a women's magazine. Cosmopolitan is one of the best-selling magazines and is directed mainly towards a female audience. Jessica Giles is the magazine's editor-in-chief since 2018.

Vogue is an American monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers various topics, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. Based at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, Vogue began in 1892 as a weekly newspaper before becoming a monthly magazine years later. Since its founding, Vogue has featured numerous actors, musicians, models, athletes, and other prominent celebrities. The largest issue published by Vogue magazine was the September 2012 edition featuring Lady Gaga in the cover, which contained 900 pages.

<i>Seventeen</i> (American magazine) American magazine for teenagers

Seventeen is an American bimonthly teen magazine headquartered in New York City. The publication targets a demographic of 13-to-19-year-old females and is owned by Hearst Magazines. Established in 1944, the magazine originally aimed to inspire teen girls to become model workers and citizens. However, it soon shifted its focus to a more fashion- and romance-oriented approach while still emphasizing the importance of self-confidence in young women. Alongside its primary themes, Seventeen also reports the latest news about celebrities.

<i>Marie Claire</i> Monthly womens magazine

Marie Claire is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women around the world and global issues. Marie Claire magazine also covers health, beauty, fashion, politics, finance, and career topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate White</span> American journalist

Kate White is an American author, former magazine editor, and speaker. From 1998 to 2012, she served as the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and left to concentrate full time on writing suspense fiction. She is the author of seventeen novels: eight books in the Bailey Weggins mystery series, including Such a Perfect Wife, which was nominated for an International Thriller Writer’s Award, and nine stand-alone psychological thrillers, including, most recently, The Second Husband and the upcoming Between Two Strangers. White has also written five non-fiction books with business advice for women, including The Gutsy Girl Handbook: Your Manifesto for Success, based on her groundbreaking bestseller Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do, and I Shouldn't Be Telling You This: How to Ask for the Money, Snag the Promotion, and Create the Career You Deserve. Her books have appeared on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best seller lists and have been published in thirteen countries. She is also the editor of The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook. In June 2022 White was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by Union College.

<i>Teen Vogue</i> American fashion and culture magazine

Teen Vogue is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to Vogue, targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like Vogue, it included stories about fashion and celebrities. Since 2015, following a steep decline in sales, the magazine cut back on its print distribution in favor of online content, which has grown significantly. The magazine had also expanded its focus from fashion and beauty to include politics and current affairs. In November 2017, it was announced Teen Vogue would cease in print and continue online-only as part of a new round of cost cuts. Other publications would also follow and go digital, such as InStyle. The final print issue featured Hillary Clinton on the cover, and was on newsstands on December 5, 2017.

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Bonnie Fuller is a Canadian media executive who is the owner and editor-in-chief of Hollywood Life. Fuller previously worked as editor-in-chief for publications such as YM, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Us Weekly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion journalism</span> Type of journalism

Fashion journalism is a component of fashion media, with a focus on writing and photojournalism. Fashion journalists write about and critique fashion events and trends as well as cultivate and maintain relationships with stylists and designers. Fashion journalists are either employed full-time by a publication, or they submit articles on a freelance basis. Fashion photography, which supplanted fashion illustration in the 1900s, is a type of photojournalism used in fashion journalism. The Internet has given rise to a number of outlets for amateur fashion journalism, such as blogs and vlogs.

Susan Schulz, who also goes by Susan Schulz Wuornos, is an American editor and communications consultant best known for being the editor-in-chief of CosmoGirl magazine, the teenage spin-off of Cosmopolitan magazine, from 2003 to 2008.

Jezebel is a US-based website featuring news and cultural commentary geared towards women. It was launched in 2007 by Gawker Media under the editorship of Anna Holmes as a feminist counterpoint to traditional women's magazines.

<i>Glamour</i> (magazine) American magazine

Glamour is an online women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. It was originally called Glamour of Hollywood. From 1939 to 2019, Glamour was a print magazine. After a low number of subscribers Glamour's last edition was in January 2019.

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Elaine Marie Welteroth is an American journalist, editor, author, and television host. In April 2016, Welteroth was named editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, making her the second person of African-American heritage in Condé Nast's 107-year history to hold such a title. Her promotion to editor at age 29 makes her the second youngest editor in Condé Nast history, behind former Teen Vogue EIC Lindsay Peoples Wagner who was 28 when she started in the role in Condé Nast. When she became beauty director of Teen Vogue in 2012, Welteroth was the first person of African-American heritage to serve in the role. She is credited for the notable increase of Teen Vogue coverage of politics and social justice, encouraging readers to become civically engaged, specifically during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Under Welteroth's leadership of Teen Vogue's shifting format, the magazine developed its first YouTube channel, featuring content on diverse subjects from campus style to cultural appropriation. The final print edition of Teen Vogue was December 2017.

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References

  1. "Cosmo's Audience Is Exploding. Meet the Digital Director Who Knows What Resonates With Readers". Adweek.com. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  2. "Cosmo's Editor-In-Chief on Why Failing Every Day is a Good Thing". Thriveglobal.com. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  3. 1 2 "At Cosmopolitan Magazine, Data Is the New Sex". The New York Times. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Jessica Pels". Advertising Age. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  5. "Marie Claire Brings On Jessica Pels". Cision.com. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  6. "Jessica Pels Is the New Editor-in-Chief of 'Cosmopolitan'". 10 October 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  7. "Cosmo's Editor-In-Chief on Why Failing Every Day is a Good Thing". Thriveglobal.com. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  8. "Cosmopolitan Appoints Jessica Pels Digital Director". WWD. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  9. "Day in the Life: Cosmopolitan digital director Jessica Pels". Glossy.co. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  10. "Digital-Savvy 'Cosmo' EIC Tames Instagram's Feedback Loop". Publishing Insider. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  11. "The Shifting Media Landscape Has Also Changed the Dynamics of Mentorship". Fashionista.com. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  12. "The 2019 Publishing Hot List: The Print and Digital Media Brands Paving a Way to Profitability". AdWeek. 20 October 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.