Jessica Pels (born September 6, 1986) is an American editor-in-chief of ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' magazine. Prior to her time at ''Cosmopolitan'', Pels held editorial positions at ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', '' Glamour'' and '' Teen Vogue''. She served as digital director for '' Marie Claire'' magazine from November 2014 until January 2018, when she became digital director of ''Cosmopolitan''. In October 2018, Pels was named editor-in-chief of ''Cosmopolitan'', becoming the youngest person in the history of the magazine to hold the position at the age of 32.

Early life and background

Pels grew up in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

She first moved to New York City at the age of 14 to study ballet at the American Ballet Theatre. Pels earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film production at the

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

Career

Early editing career

After graduating, Pels interned at ''

'' and then ''

''. She later began working as an editorial assistant at

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The company's media ...

. Pels 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''. She became the print features editor at '' Teen Vogue'' in March 2013. In November 2014, Pels joined

Hearst Magazines Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...

as digital director at ''Marie Claire'', where she served for three years. 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 Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

''Cosmopolitan''

In January 2018, Pels was appointed digital director of ''

'' magazine. By the end of May she had revamped the magazine's digital presence. ''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. In October 2018, Pels was named editor-in-chief of ''Cosmopolitan'', becoming the youngest in the history of the magazine to hold the position at the age of 32. As editor-in-chief, Pels oversees the print magazine, website, video, social, Snapchat and product extensions of the brand.

In the media

In 2019, Pels was named ''

Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

s Editor of the Year. She is a frequent speaker on topics including millennial culture, women in politics, career growth, mentorship, and more. In June 2019 she spoke about the gender pay gap at the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

summit. In July 2019, she made multiple appearances on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

, talking about the importance of healthcare to millennials in the 2020 election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pels, Jessica 1986 births Living people American magazine editors Women magazine editors Cosmopolitan (magazine) editors American women journalists Writers from Atlanta