Everyone has their childhood career dreams. From world-famous ballerinas to fearless fire fighters, the imagination of a child is boundless. However, when you meet the editor-in-chief at one of the UKs biggest magazines, you really stop and wonder, these ambitious goals from your youthful past can actually become a reality.
It was 1 degrees outside. It’s was also like London’s toxic air has combined with the bitter cold and created this heavy mist. Nonetheless Old Street Records, just off the lively Curtain Road, provided much needed warmth - and luckily, 2-4-1 cocktails.
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| EC1 |
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| The front of Old Street Records |
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| Bar this way |
Down in the basement, a small crowd was gathering. The hostess informed us that our first drink was free. With a large glass of red in hand, a black leather booth -- that resembled a quilted Chanel bag -- caught our eye. Seated left of the stage, small red candles lined the tables whilst the entire room was dimly lit - giving off an intimate vibe.
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| Table candles |
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| 2-4-1 cocktails run every day from 5-8pm |
The event we are here for, An Evening with Farrah Storr of Cosmopolitan, was organised by the Professional Publishers Association (PPA). This network promotes media publishers in the UK and recently ran their first live event a couple of months ago with Terri White, editor-in-chief, of Empire magazine.
The show is running fifteen minutes behind, understandably, Farrah is fashionably late. Eventually, two figures step out into the small spot light. One is Barry McIlheney, CEO of PPA and former editor of Smash Hits and Empire, and the other is the main event, Farrah. It's straight down to business.
Describing her dreams of going to Oxford getting crushed as the "best thing that ever happened", she quickly realised that she had to get to London.
During her time at King's College doing a degree in English Literature and French, she also did work experience during any holidays - laying the foundations of her career when she could. To make ends meet whilst studying, she took a cloakroom job within the Soho House family. Jokingly she says, "The cleaners are managers now", claiming, if she had stuck at it "I would have a better career then I would now!"
Mancunian Farrah is a case of, if you work hard, it most definitely pays off. After her degree, she took on an internship at More Magazine. She's insists that going out and doing vox pops, and staying late at work is a key to succeeding - confirming that the editor always stays late.
Farrah explains that a period of confusion followed. Uncertain about journalism, she took a job at a PR firm in Leicester Square, which she described as "awful". Afterwards she took roles at Marie Claire, Eva Magazine and eventually at Women's Health - before she made the move to Cosmopolitan.
Since being at Cosmo, she's taken the magazine through a rebrand. She points out that it wasn't bad before, but it had this "ladette" feel to it. The transformation went from "a guy fifth in the apprentice" as the naked centrefold to the "fun, fearless female" magazine it is today. Farrah has also changed the average age of it's readership from 20-years old to 27. Alongside nearly 450,000 copies being sold each month, she informs us that Cosmo UK is steadily being taken on as the European template. Even with each issue costing a bargain £1,"we're in a good place", Farrah confirms.
Another credit to Cosmo's ongoing success is their Snapchat. Joanna Coles, the editor-in-chief of the US Cosmo, told publishing house, Hearst, that they would be idiots to not get on with this ever-growing social media channel. In 2015, the magazine decided to introduce this new way to connect to it's audience, and boy, have they not looked back. Posting 12-14 "snaps" at 11am and with over a million people subscribed to their channel, they've even had to have their own dedicated team to look after it.
When asked by an audience member about the sustainability of print magazines, she declares that you "must be number one in your market". She added, "people do come back to print, you just need to be at the top of your game". Reassuring.
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| Images are not my own |
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