On her first day as editor in chief of Glamour, Samantha Barry was asked to select clothes to feature on the cover of a coming issue of the 79-year-old magazine. That was nearly a year ago, in January, and Ms. Barry, an exuberant Irishwoman who had suddenly been elevated to one of the most powerful perches in publishing, was in unfamiliar territory.
“I had to wing it,” said Ms. Barry, 37. She was no fashionista. Before the Condé Nast artistic director and Vogue editor Anna Wintour brought her in to run Glamour, Ms. Barry’s most senior role had been running social media for CNN.
Soon enough, though, she put her own sensible stamp on the fashion featured in Glamour. “We are size-inclusive, we are diverse and we are conscious not only of what is fashionable, but what fashion stands for,” she said.
But Ms. Barry, who was recruited for her digital chops, had bigger changes in mind. Last month, Glamour announced it would cease publishing a regular print magazine and essentially become an online publication with occasional print specials. And a week later, facing unrelenting difficulties in the magazine business, Condé Nast’s chief executive, Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., said he was stepping down.
Through all this tumult, Ms. Barry has sent reporters to gun shows to write about women and firearms, and to Cape Town to examine how women there are maintaining their beauty regimens during a severe drought. On the fashion front, she requested that all the clothes she reviewed had price tags on. And in May, all the items featured in the magazine’s pages cost $500 or less. The result is a Glamour that is reaching for new audiences, even as the magazine business remains on shaky ground.
Monday
9 a.m. Arrive at the Glamour offices in One World Trade Center. My office overlooks ground zero and there’s one big tree I can always make out. It’s the Survivor Tree. They rehabilitated it, and each year it comes back to life.
9:30 a.m. Back-to-back meetings with editors and Condé Nast staff. There’s a lot going on at Glamour. We’re launching an eight-series podcast around what was first a print story. We’re rethinking how we cover politics and breaking news. And we launched our midterms hub about a week ago, where all our coverage leading up to Nov. 6 can be found.
I’ve been editor in chief for less than a year, and I see Glamour as a women’s media brand, rather than only a magazine. The industry is going through a lot of change, and you have to have a strong stomach. I get away with some things because I have an accent. I drop the F-bomb now and then.
2 p.m. A car picks me up at the office and drives me to Yale, in New Haven, Conn., where I’m having dinner with Howard Dean. I have huge respect for Howard, whom I first met in Myanmar about eight years ago. I was there on a project for the BBC, working with young radio journalists just as the country was emerging from decades of censorship.
7 p.m. We do a mini-focus group with the Yale students, and they have a lot to talk about — Taylor Swift’s new political stance, the conversation around consent on campus, politics and much more. We have dinner on campus. Let’s just say that university food on campus has improved significantly since my college days!
9:10 p.m. Car back to New York.
Tuesday
7 a.m. Workout at Nike with my personal trainer, Ariel Fox. I started working out with Nike master trainers after I went to speak at their campus about innovation. I’ve never had a personal trainer before, but I am a full convert.
9:30 a.m. Meetings for Glamour’s upcoming Women of the Year issue. This year we’ve expanded live events, and Glamour Women of the Year is now a three-day event featuring Ashley Graham, Phoebe Robinson and more.
11 a.m. Layouts for the January issue. The balance that happens in this job is new to me. You’re planning many months out for events. You’re planning three months in advance for what’s on the newsstand. You’re planning day-of for digital. And you’re planning this-moment for social.
12:15 p.m. Lunch at Locanda Verde with Princess Mabel of the Netherlands, Naomi Campbell and David Remnick. The previous editor of Glamour, Cindi Leive, started the annual lunch with Princess Mabel, who founded Girls Not Brides, a global partnership to end child marriage.
2:30 p.m. Working through the beauty and fashion that will be featured in the January issue.
4 p.m. One-on-one meeting with Anna Wintour. I see her on average two or three times a week. Despite how digital-centric a lot of teams are, including mine, on Slack, email, or DMs, nothing can beat a quick face-to-face conversation with someone who knows the business better than you.
9:45 p.m. In bed before 10 and it was pure joy! I do have to be kind to myself after a very scheduled week, and allow myself some early nights. I love to cook when I really need to unwind — Irish stew, roast dinners, curries.
Wednesday
7 a.m. Work out at Nike HQ with Ariel.
10:30 a.m. Meeting with Wendy Naugle, executive editor of Glamour. We’re putting together the January issue, and January for us is about optimism and hope. We want the visuals and the cover to reflect all of that. I yay or nay features. We’re planning a big digital package on divorce, and I’m thinking about what does that mix look like — do we have enough service in there?
12 p.m. Lunch with a New York Times reporter at Trinity Place, a musty Irish pub near the office. We both have salmon with mashed potatoes and broccoli rabe. We walk there. To get around New York City, I am usually in an Uber or on the subway, if there is a time crunch. There are certain times during Fashion Weeks that it makes sense to be in a black car, but I’ll often share with my team.
1:30 p.m. Call with Eva Chen, director of partnerships at Instagram. Eva and I are working on what the Instagram installment will look like at the Glamour Women of the Year Summit.
3 p.m. Screening of “Isn’t It Romantic,” a romantic comedy starring Rebel Wilson, Adam DeVine and Liam Hemsworth. It was the first time in a long time I’ve seen a big-screen rom-com. It was adorable and lovely and very funny.
5:30 p.m. Drinks with the actress Ali Wentworth are canceled at the last minute, and I get some rare downtime. I did nothing, which was a joy.
Thursday
9 a.m. Editorial meetings.
11 a.m. Meeting with Patrick O’Shea, president of University College Cork, where I attended school. In November they’re giving me an alumni award and I’m going over for that. I’m bringing my family. It’s black tie and I’m very excited. We chatted a lot about Cork, which just got three more Michelin stars!
12:30 p.m. Working on fashion for the January issue. Fashion can and should reflect the world around us. That’s why I am determined to double down on some of the inclusive coverage Glamour has done with regards to diversity and size. There’s a body-positivity message embedded in our beauty and fashion coverage.
1 p.m. Women of the Year meetings.
4 p.m. Depart for Philadelphia on Amtrak. I love the train. It’s so relaxing. Though Penn Station is not that relaxing. It’s not quite the same as the Eurail. I’m off to Philly to interview Amal Clooney on stage as part of the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. She’s a close friend and she asked me to do it.
7 p.m. I’m staying at the Ritz, and Amal and I sneak in a room service dinner and a proper catch-up — pasta and red wine. (Don’t tell my trainer!)
Friday
5 a.m. Early start to get ready and prepped for the stage. The crowd was about 10,000 people — very impressive. I had a great conversation with Amal onstage about her legal cases, including the Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar, freedom of the press, being immigrants in America, and #MeToo.
12 p.m. Train back to New York.
6 p.m. Screening of “On the Basis of Sex,” the movie about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was lovely to see the story of how hard she worked as a mother. Armie Hammer was very handsome.
9 p.m. Squeezed in cocktails with some Irish friends at the Standard East Village. And then I had a date.
2 a.m. Finally home. You’re never fully off. I am looking at Glamour.com and social feeds on the weekend, and as editor in chief I am, in every part of my life, representing the brand.
Interviews are conducted by email, text and phone, then condensed and edited.
