Learning how to be editor-in-chief of 'Vogue' wasn't something that happened overnight.
When you're editor-in-chief of a big magazine, you cannot be a cover girl for MAC; you cannot be the face of Givenchy - of course you can't; it's doesn't go with the job.
When someone calls me a blogger, I think, 'That's one of the things I used to do.' I'm a creative director for my shoe brand; I'm the editor-in-chief of 'The Blonde Salad,' which is a website and not just a blog anymore.
I had very much wanted to be the very first black female editor-in-chief of 'Vogue.' Barring that, I wanted to work at 'Entertainment Weekly.'
My most memorable design-related encounter was also one of my most life-changing. I met Joyce Rutter Kaye, 'Print''s editor-in-chief from 1998-2008. It was at 6 A.M. on a cross-country flight from New York to Vancouver for the 2003 National AIGA conference.
After Ann Godoff, who was editor-in-chief at Random House, left and went to Viking, I got to know Viking and the people there, and liked them very much. I also found a wonderful editor there, Wendy Wolf. It's a very congenial press.
In 1981, Ms. Ebtekar was made editor-in-chief of the English-language newspaper 'Kayhan International.' The man who gave her the job was Mr. Khatami, who was then head of the Kayhan publishing house.
I started out as the assistant to the editor-in-chief at 'Ebony' magazine. She took me under her wing and gave me opportunities to take on bigger responsibilities very early on in my career.
My longest collaborative working relationship is with Katie Grand, the editor-in-chief of 'Love' magazine. Katie's an inspiration and a sounding block. She's got such great taste.
In 2003 and again in 2010, I was fired from my job as editor-in-chief of a 'progressive' paper, Al-Watan. During the years in between, I served as media adviser to Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to Britain and then the United States.
