4 Things To Know About New Irish Editor-In-Chief Of Glamour Magazine Samantha Barry

Following Cindi Leive’s exit in September, Glamour has finally found a new editor-in-chief, and we’re very excited to see what she’ll do. Did we mention she’s Irish?

It was announced yesterday that Irish journalist Samantha Barry will take the position as editor-in-chief at Conde Nast’s Glamour title. She will become the eighth editor of the magazine since it was founded in 1939 and will take over from Cindi Leive who has held the reins for the last sixteen years.

Leive has been the face of Glamour since 2001 and an employee of Condé Nast for 29 years, and during her time certainly made her mark. She expanded Glamour from a beautiful monthly print magazine into a relevant brand in digital, video and social media, successfully laying the groundwork for a new generation of leaders and audiences. Yes, Samantha Barry has big shoes to fill, but we’re positive that her expertise and experience will elevate Glamour in 2018 and beyond.

Thank you so much @cindi_leive. I’ve got impressive shoes to fill. https://twitter.com/cindi_leive/status/950379986820784128

— Samantha Barry (@samanthabarry) January 8, 2018

It’s a tough age to be in the business of publishing. 2017 was a sombre year for many renowned journalists, editors, stylists and writers with the closure of beloved titles like Teen Vogue, and even Glamour opted to go digital-first and cut back print editions.

Samantha joins Glamour at a crucial time during a vigorous reconstruction of the business and steep editorial budget cuts (which are felt globally).  Here’s what you need to know about the magazine’s first digital-native editor.

1. Influential journalist Samantha Barry was born in Ballincollig, Cork and studied in DCU before embarking on her journey to New York City. Her passions lie far beyond social media and politics and Barry enjoys sitting front row at fashion week with Anna Wintour (see below) and taking to the slopes with family.

2. She has an incredibly impressive list of reputable publishing houses on her CV and has been responsible for some of the largest news publishing social accounts in the world. Her work experience includes RTE and Newstalk, she’s travelled the world (more than 25 countries) working for ABC Australia and the US State Department, has trained young journalists and worked at BBC World News in London, and most recently served as CNN’s Head of Social Media and Senior Director of Social News, managing all of the company’s global social media teams. She’s received top awards for her work in CNN during 2016’s US presidential election coverage across social platforms. And, what’s more, she has even guest-lectured at Yale University.

3. Artistic director and Vogue editor Anna Wintour is a personal friend of Barry who commended her to CNN as  “a fearless leader of the moment”. Wintour added that Barry has “both a reverence for Glamour‘s history and a crystal clear view of its future in the digital environment”. Anna even invited her pal “Sam” to the British Consulate General in NYC to witness Anna being ordained as a Dame, and Barry’s made several cameos in Vogue magazine. Talk about friends in high places.

The Queen and Dame Anna Wintour. So lovely to be invited to the British residence to celebrate Anna being named a Dame. A lovely speech about coming from a small island to NYC to be the best she could be “In Britain, bloodlines run heavy, and in any job I took I was known as the daughter of my brilliant father, the great newspaper editor Charles Wintour. In New York, nobody cared about my family. Frankly nobody gave a damn, and that freed me.” #annawintour #vogue #nyc

A post shared by Samantha Barry (@sammybarrynews) on Jun 27, 2017 at 5:48pm PDT

First #NYFW including a #FROw invite from the amazing Anna Wintour to @altuzarrastudio show #fashion

A post shared by Samantha Barry (@sammybarrynews) on Feb 19, 2015 at 9:14am PST

4. She knows how to deal with Trump via social and we’re already anticipating serious shade from the Glamour twitter and Insta accounts.

#factsfirst @cnn @cnnpr #cnn

A post shared by Samantha Barry (@sammybarrynews) on Nov 26, 2017 at 12:00pm PST

Barry will take her seat at Glamour HQ on January 16th and we’re eager to see her get stuck in.