Mr. Magazine

“You’re not going to be surprised to hear me say that print is very important, I’m sure, but I will tell you why. And I’ll even go one step further, which is, although I certainly don’t have insight into all of the financials of the Rachael Ray brand, but I would guess that we’re not her main moneymaker, given that she has a national daily TV show. Obviously, we’re profitable and successful, but what I will say is the magazine for her is her legacy piece, no offense to television at all, but television doesn’t really have the longevity that a print product does. Rachael’s books and this magazine are where she can deliver a message that she can be unbelievably passionate about over and over again, so that the message is really sticky.” Lauren Purcell

With its 10th anniversary, Every Day with Rachael Ray becomes Rachael Ray Every Day Magazine, reaching this milestone with plans for many more as the magazine moves forward into its next decade with an eye on maintaining and achieving even more success and audience relevance. It’s a new name and a new look, but the same resonating content that has made it one of the most popular titles out there for its entire 10 years.

Lauren Purcell has been editor-in-chief of the magazine for four years, coming from her position as executive editor at Self. I spoke with Lauren recently and we talked about the important changes that were made regarding the logo and title. Lauren believes that the new name makes a stronger, more immediate connection for the consumer with Rachael and her unique brand.

Lauren told me that Rachael considered multiple versions with both the original name, Every Day with Rachael Ray, and the new one, Rachael Ray Every Day, and Rachael and Lauren based their decision on both visual impact and reader recognition. She believes the new name more closely echoes what their readers call the magazine in casual use on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and in conversations both Rachael and she have had with readers in person, in which they often refer to the magazine as “Rachael Ray magazine.” In testing, fans were very engaged by seeing Rachael’s name more prominently placed.

Lauren and Rachael Ray have a collegial working relationship that is based on a mutual trust and love for the brand, something that is sometimes rare to find in celebrity/editor relationships.

So, I hope you enjoy this lively and entertaining conversation with a woman who knows how to keep relevance and freshness in a magazine that some might consider mature, but is in fact still evolving “Every day.” And now the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Lauren Purcell, Editor-in-Chief, Rachael Ray Every Day Magazine.

But first, the sound-bites:

Lauren Purcell, editor-in-chief, Rachael Ray Every Day magazine.

On the 10th anniversary of Every Day with Rachael Ray and what she would say the state of the magazine is today: It’s interesting to be at the point of a 10th anniversary right now, because the tendency would be to perceive that as a mature magazine, but in truth Rachael’s brand has been evolving so quickly that I think we’re really looking forward. In fact, her real directive when I sat down with her about planning this particular issue was, sure, we can do a little bit of a lookback, but forward, forward, forward. Let’s look forward.

On working with Rachael Ray and whether or not it’s all the honeymoon phase or there have been some stumbling blocks: I don’t think it’s a honeymoon as much as it’s our third honeymoon. We’re like colleagues anywhere, we go through cycles of agreeing or disagreeing about things, but my relationship with Rachael has been really collegial from the beginning. The truth about Rachael is that she actually is that person that you see on TV who you believe might be sitting in your kitchen next Tuesday having a glass of wine and telling you a funny joke. It’s not spin; I would spin it, of course, Samir, if I had to, (Laughs) but I don’t have to. I really think that she’s an ideal editorial director.

On the fact that Rachael Ray is so down-to-earth and real: She’s truly a genuine person and one of the things that I hear from all of her people, people who work on her show and hair and makeup people, her PR people; she’s unbelievably loyal and I’ve really experienced that. When we’ve gone through times where we’re really tussling with something in the magazine, what direction we want to go in or should we try a different strategy, and we sit down together, she’s really as interested in coming out of it with me being comfortable and positive about the direction we take moving forward as she is. And we don’t stop until we have achieved some kind of collaboration that we’re both really happy with.

On the reinvention of the magazine for its second decade: It was really just a back and forth, with us doing all the nitty-gritty, really hardcore design work on our end, working with a great designer out in San Francisco, and then bringing them to Rachael and just having her react. And I think her vision of the brand is so internal to her that the easiest way for her to react is not to have to really articulate it, although she is very articulate about the brand; it’s just to say to me, this one feels like us, this one doesn’t. And then Heather and I were able to say, OK, what she’s reacting to is a slightly wider lettering or she likes this color palette of our back color palette and that’s really how Rachael and I handle the magazine in general. It’s really collaborative and yet to her credit, she has hired experts, such as me and my team, and she lets us run with the ball.

On whether we’ll see more or less of Rachael on the cover with the new redesign: We are going to see about the same, perhaps a tiny bit more. To be honest, in all the research, sales of the magazine are about the same, whether the main image on the cover is food or Rachael and there’s always a little image of Rachael. And because we haven’t suffered any sort of loss in showing food, some of it has to do with the fact that Rachael is busier than ever and when we can give her a break from needing to appear in a cover shoot; I think she’s appreciative of that.

On a typical day in her professional life as she puts the magazine together: I don’t know if I can describe a typical day to you, but you do hit on something that is crucial to this brand. And that is, how much Rachael can we deliver to the audience because the magazine is largely about our Rachael fans. Our audience is absolutely Rachael fans, but if there are people who feel lukewarm about her, they might be attracted to a food cover and that’s one of the reasons they began experimenting with just food on the cover and I’ve continued that.

On a major stumbling block she’s had to face and how she overcame it: The one thing that we continue to work on, and it has improved, we’ve done really well with it since I’ve been here, is that the arms of Rachael’s brand are so numerous and are headed by different people, and getting those arms to work together so that the TV show and the magazine and Meyer, which makes her cookware, and Yum-o! her philanthropic effort, even her Food Network show appearances, and they obviously have their own magazine and Rachael has hers, and yet our readers are interested in everything that Rachael does and that includes when she’s on Food Network.

On how important the ink on paper magazine is to a woman like Rachael Ray whose face is everywhere: I think that she sees the magazine as a mouthpiece for her philosophy. And the role of the TV shows is that they are popular and quicker and the ratings drive everything and the message has to be, I think, very upbeat and quick. And the magazine is a place where she can be more heartfelt and more earnest and really delve into why she started to this in the first place.

On anything else she’d like to add: You’ve been very good at letting me get across how excited I am about this 10th anniversary and as editor-in-chief; this is my first editor-in-chief role. And while I’ve put together anniversary books at other places I’ve worked, this is my first anniversary baby. And I’m so, so proud of it. And yet, also kind of grateful to Rachael for even setting me straight and saying, but we’re looking forward. We’re looking forward. So, I think you’re going to see great things from this magazine, whether I helm it or not; Rachael is it’s patron saint and she’s not going anywhere.

On what motivates her to get up in the morning and say it’s going to be a great day: To be honest, it’s the people. I have often said there are lots of great magazine makers out there and I take my cues from lots of them and I’ve borrowed lots of wisdom from people I’ve worked for who I think are great, but I think unless you can make a magazine that’s staff is happy in doing it, especially in this world where we’re constantly bombarded by the whole “print is dead” mantra, which as you can imagine, I completely don’t believe.

On what keeps her up at night: What keeps me up at night is that Rachael will not look both ways when she crosses the street. If you want to talk about the one vulnerability in a celebrity brand it is that she has to be alive and kicking.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Lauren Purcell, editor-in-chief, Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Samir Husni: You’ve arrived at the 10th anniversary of Every Day with Rachael Ray and the magazine has now been under two owners, two major magazine publishers: Reader’s Digest and Meredith. What would you say is the state of the magazine today?

Lauren Purcell: It’s interesting to be at the point of a 10th anniversary right now, because the tendency would be to perceive that as a mature magazine, but in truth Rachael’s brand has been evolving so quickly that I think we’re really looking forward. In fact, her real directive when I sat down with her about planning this particular issue was, sure, we can do a little bit of a lookback, but forward, forward, forward. Let’s look forward.

She’s at the top of her game right now; the brand is incredibly vibrant. Her daytime TV show is popular; her cookware brands are selling like hotcakes; she is one of the most popular talk show hosts in the nation and the magazine is right along with that.

So, I really see the 10th anniversary as a moment to stop just for a second and say, look at what these brands have accomplished and then turn right around and look forward and say, but we’re still going to keep it fresh and interesting. It’s a success and I don’t see that as doing anything else but growing in the future.

What we’ve done to coincide with the anniversary is freshen up the logo, and in fact I’m dying to release it to you because it’s so terrific-looking, we’ve got it embargoed for just another few days.

But it’s the same great magazine, just with a look that reflects the fact that the brand is really contemporary and modern, and keeping up and changing really rapidly with the times. As the times really do right now; there’s nothing complacent, tired or boring about this brand.

So, we’ve changed the look of the cover and the inside, but the content and the message are essentially the same, because it’s just as resonant now. Rachael’s whole message is that “every day” can be a little bit of an adventure and you don’t need to be rich to live a rich life. And that was resonant 10 years ago and it has gone through all sorts of cycles, but the message really connects with readers just as much today. So, I’m looking forward to the next 10 years.

Samir Husni: That’s great and congratulations on this milestone.

Lauren Purcell: Thank you.

Samir Husni: You hear love stories and horror stories from editors about working with “celebrities,” but you sound so radiant when you talk about the magazine. As you work with Rachael, is it all fun, without stumbling blocks? Are you still on a honeymoon period with Rachael?

Lauren Purcell: I don’t think it’s a honeymoon as much as it’s our third honeymoon. We’re like colleagues anywhere, we go through cycles of agreeing or disagreeing about things, but my relationship with Rachael has been really collegial from the beginning.

I think one of the reasons that we hit it off from the very first time that I met her is that I really believe in what she’s doing and what her message is. I don’t know if you know this about my background, but in addition to coming from a women’s lifestyle kind of magazine background, I had also written a cookbook with my sister. But the message of it really was, look we’re just two girls from a small town in the south who moved to New York and proved that you can throw cocktail parties; it was a cocktail party how-to book, without having a culinary degree or hiring caterers or anything like that. And that is essentially so in line with Rachael’s overall message; she too is not a trained chef and she calls herself instead, a cook.

And so I think I just got her and her message from the very beginning and that has enabled her to really relax into letting us run the magazine, which is not to say that she’s not heavily involved. She sees every page, we talk about what we’re planning to do; she is really instrumental in setting new directions that we go in.

So, not so much a honeymoon period as it’s just really an excellent fit, I think. And that’s lucky because I came from Condè Nast and had my share of celebrity run-ins and that’s just not the way of this relationship. The truth about Rachael is that she actually is that person that you see on TV who you believe might be sitting in your kitchen next Tuesday having a glass of wine and telling you a funny joke. It’s not spin; I would spin it, of course, Samir, if I had to, (Laughs) but I don’t have to. I really think that she’s an ideal editorial director.

Samir Husni: I can attest to that. When I first met Rachael at the launch party for the magazine 10 years ago, my daughter, who lived in New York at the time, went with me and Rachael was talking with my daughter as if she had known her for years. I was simply stunned at how down-to-earth she was. She took pictures with my daughter and anyone else there who wanted to and mingled with everyone as if she were simply attending the party, instead of being the celebrity guest of honor.

Lauren Purcell: That’s actually a better description than I could even give you. She’s a real person and I do think that’s rare among celebrities; I don’t think that your observation is off the mark at all. I have funny stories about other celebrities that I’ve worked with in the past, but I just don’t have them about Rachael. The stories about her are always things like, she told me a joke when I was in her office one day and I almost fell off my chair laughing.

She’s truly a genuine person and one of the things that I hear from all of her people, people who work on her show and hair and makeup people, her PR people; she’s unbelievably loyal and I’ve really experienced that. When we’ve gone through times where we’re really tussling with something in the magazine, what direction we want to go in or should we try a different strategy, and we sit down together, she’s really as interested in coming out of it with me being comfortable and positive about the direction we take moving forward as she is. And we don’t stop until we have achieved some kind of collaboration that we’re both really happy with. And that dialogue being that open has been; I won’t lie to you, maybe a bit of a surprise. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started working with her four years ago, but she is responsive, and the best thing about her is that she’s real, as you saw with her interaction with your daughter. And she’s truly accessible and really interested; none of that is fake and that’s my highest compliment to her.

Samir Husni: Tell me about the process, how the two of you or just you and the team, handled the redesign and essentially the reinvention of the magazine for its second decade.

Lauren Purcell: Well, it’s been an interesting process because we started working on a new logo last December. So, we’re really talking about nine or ten months of working on that. And in the middle of that we had a change in creative directors. So, you can imagine that made things a little tricky in terms of continuity.

And I have to give credit to Heather Haggerty, who is my new creative director who isn’t so new anymore, but who joined us earlier this year, in picking up that ball and running with it. And for the logo in particular, I would take multiple iterations to Rachael, who is very visual, so it wasn’t the kind of thing where I could sit down and say, tell me what you envision or what kind of type styles you like or what would you like it to look like.

What I needed to do was sit down with my team, get a start on what we wanted and those words had to be modern, in keeping with the digital age, fresher, energetic and casual. And then do a bunch of designs and there must have been 70 iterations in the beginning that we just put in front of Rachael that she could say yea or nay to without having to worry about why she liked something. Yes, I like it or no, I don’t. And then we went back and we were able to interpret from that what kinds of things she liked. Would she like it to be more feminine, less feminine? Upper case, lower case; you’ll see a change in the logo towards lower case, which reflects a social media sensibility, a casualness about capitalization.

It was really just a back and forth, with us doing all the nitty-gritty, really hardcore design work on our end, working with a great designer out in San Francisco, and then bringing them to Rachael and just having her react.

And I think her vision of the brand is so internal to her that the easiest way for her to react is not to have to really articulate it, although she is very articulate about the brand; it’s just to say to me, this one feels like us, this one doesn’t. And then Heather and I were able to say, OK, what she’s reacting to is a slightly wider lettering or she likes this color palette of our back color palette and that’s really how Rachael and I handle the magazine in general. It’s really collaborative and yet to her credit, she has hired experts, such as me and my team, and she lets us run with the ball.

Samir Husni: Are we going to see more of Rachael on the cover or less of her?

Lauren Purcell: We are going to see about the same, perhaps a tiny bit more. To be honest, in all the research, sales of the magazine are about the same, whether the main image on the cover is food or Rachael and there’s always a little image of Rachael. And because we haven’t suffered any sort of loss in showing food, some of it has to do with the fact that Rachael is busier than ever and when we can give her a break from needing to appear in a cover shoot; I think she’s appreciative of that.

That being said, she’s happy to appear on all of them and you’ll see her on November and December and then she’s appearing again in March. So, you may see a little bit of an uptick in how often she appears on the cover, but I think we’re doing just as well with food and while that’s unusual to have two very different kinds of cover tracks like that, until I see that it’s confusing the consumer, and I see no evidence of that, I see no reason not to continue with both. They’ve both been really successful.

Samir Husni: Let’s go inside your mind for a moment as you put the magazine together and you’re thinking about the fact that you have a team and you’re working with Rachael, but at the same time you have an audience that could probably be described as a Rachael Ray cult. Can you describe a day in your life as editor-in-chief of a major magazine? How do you go through your day thinking about the millions who follow Rachael and who want everything to have Rachael Ray’s name on it and then knowing you also have an audience that you’re introducing to Rachael for maybe the first time and knowing that you have Rachael herself to consider?

Lauren Purcell: I don’t know if I can describe a typical day to you, but you do hit on something that is crucial to this brand. And that is, how much Rachael can we deliver to the audience because the magazine is largely about our Rachael fans. Our audience is absolutely Rachael fans, but if there are people who feel lukewarm about her, they might be attracted to a food cover and that’s one of the reasons they began experimenting with just food on the cover and I’ve continued that.

If you assume that, and we’re really now mostly talking about a newsstand audience, which is pretty small for us, but of course for an editor-in-chief it’s always a measure of vitality. If you assume that you’re capturing with a Rachael image Rachael fans, you still have to wonder about the people we might be able to convert into Rachael fans by the strength of what’s inside the magazine, which is terrific, accessible food, an approach to lifestyle that really does take into consideration the value and fun of life, and it’s not over the heads of its readers and it really speaks to her. And it’s largely women, although not completely, but it speaks to her where she lives, on a Tuesday or a busy Wednesday. What is she going to do tomorrow or next week as opposed to just special occasions and holidays?

I have actually taken advantage of how strong Meredith is in the research side of things and tested a lot of that, so as I said, one of the first things I did was test to see if the food cover was as popular as a Rachael cover and if not we need to change that. I was lucky to find out that they are and they actually perform the same in sales.

I’ve also asked my readers, frankly I’ve gone directly to them and asked, do you feel there is the right amount of Rachael in this magazine or do you wish there was more or less? And people feel there is the right amount. And I think my team does a very good job of understanding who Rachael is and that the brand is this woman. And also in fusing the magazine with everything we know about her and her voice.

And she’s also of course literally there; she writes her own 30-minute meals, so this is a woman who is very involved in the brand that has her name on it. But when you talk about day-to-day, what we think about all the time, and this is true of any magazine editor, so this is no particular secret sauce of mine, it’s just that I have a celebrity who is a real living, breathing brand, and so it’s easy for us to ask, would Rachael do that or does this feel like Rachael? Is this the kind of thing that Rachael is interested in? And if I don’t have a gut instinct, although I usually do, I text her and I ask her. And that’s really beautiful.

And as Rachael evolves, the magazine has this really natural permission to also change and grow and it doesn’t disconcert the readers; they’re not thinking to themselves, oh my goodness, what happened to my Every Day with Rachael Ray because they are aware of her and they know that, for instance, she is more interested in let’s say, vegetarian cooking, something that she decided she was interested in pursuing, which surprised me. That didn’t surprise the readers at all, they believe that she’s like them and she gets enthusiasm and she pursues them and then she reports back.

So, I have to say that rather than it being a difficult thing to have a celebrity, it makes it really easy. I have a touchstone that’s right there on the other end of the phone line or sitting across the desk from me and I can say, what do you think about doing x, y or z? It’s a great guideline and to her credit, never constraining because she herself shows interest and is open-minded.

Samir Husni: In the last four years since you’ve been at the helm of the magazine, what has been the major stumbling block that you’ve had to face and how did you overcome it?

Lauren Purcell: The one thing that we continue to work on, and it has improved, we’ve done really well with it since I’ve been here, is that the arms of Rachael’s brand are so numerous and are headed by different people, and getting those arms to work together so that the TV show and the magazine and Meyer, which makes her cookware, and Yum-o! her philanthropic effort, even her Food Network show appearances, and they obviously have their own magazine and Rachael has hers, and yet our readers are interested in everything that Rachael does and that includes when she’s on Food Network.

And so I think the thing I concentrate on as the magazine is running very smoothly, four years in, I think we do have a really good momentum and it runs very smoothly day-to-day, is how we can get more and more synergy among all the arms. And I know from speaking to the people who run all of those, they’re all concerned about doing that as well.

A good example is Rachael has her own book in print with Simon & Shuster and there just hadn’t been a lot of conversation between the magazine and the book. And that didn’t make any sense. We’re natural outlets for one another. So we just recently finished collaborating on a great program where if you purchase Rachael’s new book which is coming out at the end of October, you also get a free subscription to the magazine. And that sounds so simple, but because the properties are owned by entirely different corporations, it really took a lot of collaboration and me involving a lot of people on my corporate side, Simon & Shuster getting people involved from their corporate side and really working together over the course of weeks.

That was a small win, but a significant one. And I think that’s my major sort of challenge or objective going forward; how can we get more and more of those wins, where the arms of this brand all work together and we’re more than the sum of the parts. You can’t just work in isolation; that’s not how brands work anymore, as we all know. We want the TV show and the magazine to collaborate and the book to get involved too and then the product line and the philanthropic effort and all of the things that she’s going to do. And I expect her to do more and more things.

Samir Husni: So we can easily say that you have been Meredith-ized? That has been a Meredith trend for years. You used to buy the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and you got the magazine subscription free.

Lauren Purcell: Right. And if our brand worked the way Better Homes and Gardens did within Meredith, I think that would be much more seamless and easy to accomplish. And because we are a little bit of a different business model, it has not been as natural a collaboration. I’m really proud of achieving and making strides in that arena and I just want to keep going with that because I think that there’s unlimited potential. The drawback is also the advantage; the fact that there are multiple arms with different companies means that there are lots and lots of resources that wholly-owned Meredith brands might not be able to take advantage of. But it’s my challenge to figure out how to make those collaborations work when they’re not wholly-owned by Meredith, of course, you have to figure out how everybody benefits. And that’s good business negotiation and I’m learning as I go, and as I said, have chocked up some wins, and frankly, have had some things that haven’t worked out in the end and we couldn’t come to an agreement.

But I think that going forward that’s going to be what I look back on and regard as my greatest success. Of course I’m proud of how successful the magazine is on its own, but to be able to look back and say that we really advanced the entire brand, with the magazine as an engine, that would be a terrific legacy.

Samir Husni: How important is the printed magazine for a woman like Rachael Ray, who is everywhere and on almost every pixel on every screen? She’s all over; how important is the ink on paper magazine?

Lauren Purcell: You’re not going to be surprised to hear me say that print is very important, I’m sure, but I will tell you why. And I’ll even go one step further, which is, although I certainly don’t have insight into all of the financials of the Rachael Ray brand, but I would guess that we’re not her main moneymaker, given that she has a national daily TV show. Obviously, we’re profitable and successful, but what I will say is the magazine for her is her legacy piece, no offense to television at all, but television doesn’t really have the longevity that a print product does. Rachael’s books and this magazine are where she can deliver a message that she can be unbelievably passionate about over and over again, so that the message is really sticky.

And so I think that she sees the magazine as a mouthpiece for her philosophy. And the role of the TV shows is that they are popular and quicker and the ratings drive everything and the message has to be, I think, very upbeat and quick. And the magazine is a place where she can be more heartfelt and more earnest and really delve into why she started to this in the first place.

And she’s been on-message from the beginning because it’s something that she feels so passionate about and that’s why she called it “Every Day” because she really believes that food and all the things that surround it are a way to make every single day a little bit better and a little bit more personal and a little bit more filled with love. As cheesy as that might sound, that’s a message that she’s never going to get tired of getting across and the print product is just the place where I think the audience has a lot more tolerance for that kind of deep, thoughtful message, packaged obviously with her humor and brilliant visuals and terrific food and all of those things. And we’ll never stop delivering that, but I know that she’s really proud of having a place where she can accomplish these things. And you’ll find this in the book too, to some extent. But the magazine is a place where over and over again, ten times every year, we can say, this is what Rachael Ray stands for.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Lauren Purcell: You’ve been very good at letting me get across how excited I am about this 10th anniversary and as editor-in-chief; this is my first editor-in-chief role. And while I’ve put together anniversary books at other places I’ve worked, this is my first anniversary baby. And I’m so, so proud of it. And yet, also kind of grateful to Rachael for even setting me straight and saying, but we’re looking forward. We’re looking forward. So, I think you’re going to see great things from this magazine, whether I helm it or not; Rachael is it’s patron saint and she’s not going anywhere. And I think everything that she has to say and everything that she’s done for American cooking; I’m really proud to be able to get that message across. It’s an exciting time to be here.

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get up in the mornings and say it’s going to be a great day?

Lauren Purcell: To be honest, it’s the people. I have often said there are lots of great magazine makers out there and I take my cues from lots of them and I’ve borrowed lots of wisdom from people I’ve worked for who I think are great, but I think unless you can make a magazine that’s staff is happy in doing it, especially in this world where we’re constantly bombarded by the whole “print is dead” mantra, which as you can imagine, I completely don’t believe.

I only want to go to work each day and make sure that my staff enjoys working there, is proud of what we’re putting out, feels creatively challenged, knows that I’m fostering their careers, and there’s kind of a joke within Meredith that I’m constantly needing to hire new editorial assistants, and the reason for that is because we mentor them so thoroughly that they get snapped up by other media companies and promoted, well beyond what I can offer them and I’m really proud of that. That there is a whole set of people walking around who got their chops working on this magazine under me. I believe in mentoring more than anything else and while obviously it is my job to make a terrific product and to make sure it sells and is relevant, I want to do that as well as create an atmosphere where great editors are being developed on my team and they’re proud of what they’re doing and are happy to come to work every day.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Lauren Purcell: What keeps me up at night is that Rachael will not look both ways when she crosses the street. If you want to talk about the one vulnerability in a celebrity brand it is that she has to be alive and kicking. And I have said that to her. She used to a fan of skydiving and I don’t know if it was the insurance company, her husband or her own good sense that made her stop doing that, but I just saw an interview where she said that she would love to take it up again. And I texted her and said, please don’t. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“Country Living had never dipped its toes fully into the country music waters, but if that audience is going to read a shelter decorating magazine, I think Country Living is the magazine for them. So, we talked about how to be very deliberate about penetrating that world without alienating our core readership, because I’m realistic; I know not all of our readers are country music fans and they don’t come to our magazine for celebrities and/or music.” Rachel Barrett

Country Living magazine is taking its June issue on a long drive into the country with a guest editor and the first-ever person to appear on its cover in the magazine’s 36-year history. Grammy-Award winning singer, Miranda Lambert is the distinguished celebrity that received the honor. And it is a momentous event indeed.

Rachel Barrett is the magazine’s editor-in-chief and said the upcoming issue of Country Living showcases many firsts for the magazine as it rubs shoulders with the country music industry without deviating from its original DNA. No celeb-tell-alls here; Country Living merely continues to do what it does best, celebrating country style with tasteful class and easy fun.

I spoke with Rachel recently about the memorable June issue with all its ‘firsts,’ from the new feature: Turn This Country Room Into a Song to the first edition of Country Living Backstage, a free mini-mag created in partnership with the Country Music Association for the CMA Fan Fest held in Nashville June 11-14.

A true southern lady herself, Rachel graciously shared her enthusiastic excitement about the issue and the magazine in general. It was a conversation that was as refreshing as a mint julep on a hot southern day.

But of course, Country Living doesn’t happen only below the Mason-Dixon, as Rachel was quick to point out, even though it’s published in Birmingham, Ala. The magazine appeals to people everywhere who enjoy the country lifestyle; from New York to Nebraska; Country Living satisfies its audience all across the United States.

I hope you enjoy this fun and lively conversation with Rachel Barrett, Editor-in-Chief, Country Living magazine. I know Mr. Magazine™ did.

But first the sound-bites:

On why the June issue was chosen for the magazine’s maiden voyage into ‘country’: We began looking at what time of year to potentially do this issue and to be honest, we weren’t even seeking to put a person on the cover; we were just talking about the fact that country music is so mainstream. A lot of topics that just lined up with the country music lifestyle felt really right for the magazine to explore right now.

On the things she’s implementing in print to interact with the magazine’s audience: We’re just adding different levels of engagement. I mentioned that we moved Simple Country Pleasures to the back page of the magazine, so now we’re opening the feature well with a seasonal cross stitch and in June it’s a guitar because it’s a country themed issue, but we’ve done various cross stitch patterns.

On discovering Hearst was moving Country Living to Birmingham and her feelings about that when she was offered the job: I felt full support from Hearst; they handled the whole thing brilliantly. Transitioning a major national brand from New York to Birmingham, staffing it from scratch; I was also pregnant when I took the job, so that added to some of the chaos. (Laughs) But there were challenges and sometimes I’m floored, in retrospect, as to how we pulled it off. A lot of that credit goes to the New York-based Country Living team who sort of helped pass the torch in the most graceful manner.

On the major stumbling block she had to face: I think just starting from scratch. There was a small window of time where we had a temporary office space and a post-it note on the door that read Country Living. (Laughs) And our neighbors were like: what, the magazine?

On her most pleasant moment: The best moments are just every time we’ve added a person to the staff; it was also such a unique opportunity because the people would ask what’s the job description and we’d reply, well, what do you want it to be? (Laughs)

On anything else she’d like to add: One of the other exciting things on the heels of this country music play is that we have Country Living Backstage and I think this is a testament to how mainstream country has become.

On what keeps her up at night: What doesn’t keep me up at night? (Laughs) For one, my two children. I have a two-year-old and a one-year-old. But in addition to them, I think it’s just excitement for Country Living. You know, we’re really a small magazine, as I have reiterated a couple of times, and so everyone multi-tasks. We’re definitely kind of scrappy; I’m working on everything from brainstorming the reader page to big picture brand-building.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Rachel Barrett, Editor-in-Chief, Country Living.

Samir Husni: There are so many firsts in the June issue of Country Living; we have the first celebrity guest editor, the first Backstage Pass, the first Country Living Backstage mini-magazine, you name it; I was just going through the list of how many firsts the magazine has in the June issue. Why now and why June for all these premier bonanzas?

Rachel Barrett: I’ve been onboard now for almost two years; I started in October 2013, and we took about six months to build a staff here in Birmingham and to complete the transition. And we’ve been a little slow about introducing some changes into the magazine, but recently I read an article in The New York Times about a study done by the MPD Group that talked about how country music had finally become the most popular musical format in the country with its widespread appeal.

Country Living had never dipped its toes fully into the country music waters, but if that audience is going to read a shelter decorating magazine, I think Country Living is the magazine for them. So, we talked about how to be very deliberate about penetrating that world without alienating our core readership, because I’m realistic; I know not all of our readers are country music fans and they don’t come to our magazine for celebrities and/or music.

We began looking at what time of year to potentially do this issue and to be honest, we weren’t even seeking to put a person on the cover; we were just talking about the fact that country music is so mainstream. Recently, even Steven Tyler announced that he was doing a country album; Nelly is also going to do one, and so there’s definitely widespread appeal. We decided to look at the lifestyle associated with the genre of country music.

As we started discussing the issue in more detail and brainstorming ideas, we thought that it would be more authentic and interesting to bring on a guest editor from that world to help us brainstorm. We bounced around a few names, but Miranda Lambert just seemed like the perfect choice for us; she’s the reigning queen of country; she took home a ton of awards recently at the ACM’s, I think more than any other country artist, and then we started digging a little deeper and found out that she’s from Lindale, Texas, where the town’s motto is actually “Good Country Living,” which was perfect. She chooses to live in the small town of Tishomingo, Oklahoma; I think the population is around 3,000 people.

So, we reached out to her publicist, who also happened to be a Country Living fan; it’s always great when an L.A. publicist is familiar with a magazine called Country Living. It turned out she’s a reader and so we didn’t really have this awkward back and forth, where we were trying to rope in the celebrity who didn’t really understand the magazine or was pitching content that was off brand. Miranda reads us on her tour bus.

She bounced around a ton of ideas on our first phone call; she had clearly taken notes and went over ideas with Blake (Shelton), it was a really nice back and forth. We photographed her for the inside story and of course, if you’re Country Living and you have a photo shoot and time carved out with Miranda Lambert, you’re going to shoot a vertical, a potential cover shot; it wasn’t necessarily the plan to put her on the cover, but it felt like the right move at the right time. I can’t think of anyone, particularly in the last five to ten years, who would be a better face for the magazine.

I felt strongly that everything we put in this issue needed to appeal to the Country Living reader who didn’t care at all about country music; the houses weren’t going to be chosen just because they were tied to a celebrity, they had to be houses that would be worth running in the magazine no matter who their owner was.

We found spaces that fit the bill. We have a story called ‘King of the Road’ and the title is inspired by a country song, but it’s a celebration of the new travel trailer culture. Of course, country stars drive around in their Airstreams and have these great, decked-out trailers, but our readers are also really into that lifestyle and we know they’re also into small spaces, so a lot of topics that just lined up with the country music lifestyle felt really right for the magazine to explore right now.

In terms of Backstage, that was just another thing we felt was right. We’d been talking about; generally speaking, people aren’t flocking to the newsstands as much as they used to, so we talked about how Country Living needed to be present where our readers are and where potential readers are. I’m originally from Tennessee and I know that the CMA Fan Fest is a huge event. I think 50,000-plus people flock to downtown Nashville to celebrate country music; HGTV has a presence there, they have this giant building called ‘The Lodge,’ and so we thought: how does Country Living build a presence at this event, because it’s great exposure for us, albeit a slightly different audience.

When I worked at Glamour, we had done a special publication during Golden Globe’s week and it was distributed throughout Los Angeles and Glamour has the Golden Globe’s weekend; this feels similar in spirit to that. It’s sort of Country Living’s inside guide to downtown Nashville throughout that weekend. The content gives attendees a sneak peek into our brand, but through the lens of the things they’re interested in.

One of the stories that we have in Country Living Backstage is ‘Turn this Country Song into a Room,’ so we’re taking four or five songs that will be performed through the CMA Fan Fest in downtown Nashville and we’re putting together a room. There’s one song called ‘Get Your Shine On’ by Florida Georgia Line, so we put together this living room with a bunch of fun, metallic touches and there’s, of course, some sort of Tennessee Moonshine resourcing on the page. (Laughs) Another song out right now is ‘American Kids’ by Kenny Chesney and so we built this whole Americana-inspired porch.

So, I think that we’re finding a way to tap into the world of country music without pandering to the celebrity side of things.

Samir Husni: One of the things that I remember about Country Living from the days of John Mack Carter and Rachel Newman, when the magazine was first launched, was it had that spirit of enjoying everything ‘country.’ And you seem to be bringing that trait back to the magazine. You’re not going miles from the original DNA, but you’re rebuilding upon that basic foundation.

Rachel Barrett: I appreciate your saying that. Country Living has only had four editors in the history of the magazine and I’ve received some sweet letters from readers who’ve said, I think it’s a promising sign that your name is Rachel. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too)

Rachel Barrett: You know, everyone sort of pines for their old issues, including myself; I love looking at magazines from their very beginnings and I’ve been in touch with Rachel Newman and Nancy Soriano, so there’s this nice connection from past editors; I’m sort of revisiting some of my favorite aspects of all of the incarnations of the magazine over the years. We’re definitely trying to celebrate that more in the magazine and we’re putting a little more heart and soul into the pages.

Samir Husni: We’ve named all the previous editors; let’s also add Sarah Gray…

Rachel Barrett: Yes, certainly. Even working in the magazine industry in New York, I’m from Tennessee and she’s from Mississippi; everybody was always saying that she and I needed to meet. And I’ve always been a huge fan of what she did at Country Living; I would say that I started reading Country Living even more regularly when she came onboard. And I think that she definitely seized upon the social trend of country becoming cool again. Even hipsters in Brooklyn were into canning. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs as well)

Rachel Barrett: I think that she really embraced that in a smart way and brought a whole new readership into Country Living. I haven’t had a chance to communicate with her, but I’m definitely a fan.

Samir Husni: You also created ‘Find the Horseshoe’ inside the magazine, which was a staple of Country magazine that was started by Roy Reiman many years ago. What other types of things are you doing in print to engage people in this digital age and create that interactivity with the audience through ink on paper?

Rachel Barrett: Country Living was not a magazine that was broken, so we’re not trying to come in and fix it and introduce whiplash-inducing change, but one of the things we did modify was our section called ‘Collecting.’ The word collecting is great, it describes jut what it is, but I felt like it wasn’t tapping into the heart of collecting. So, we renamed the section ‘The Thrill of the Hunt’ because it opens up this section for us to feature some new merchandise. I had been at a Country Living fair in Columbus and they were doing a TV segment and we asked this woman: what brings you to the fair? And she said it’s the thrill of the hunt. And you really see that in action at our events and so we decided to rename the collecting section ‘The Thrill of the Hunt.’ And that’s when the Horseshoe Hunt came up and we thought to play off of The Thrill of the Hunt we’d incorporate that element into our pages, so we’ve been hiding a horseshoe in every issue. It’s just one way to have readers interacting with every page of the magazine.

A reader came up to me recently at the Nashville fair and she said the first thing that she always did when she got her issue of Country Living was look for the horseshoe. And that just made me so happy that that one little touch, a tiny, subtle little horseshoe, could bring such fun to a certain set of our readership.

Another example of that interaction, I would say, would be Simple Country Pleasures, which is this longstanding popular column in the magazine. It used to be the back page of the magazine, then it opened the feature well, and recently, we moved it back to the back page of the magazine. It’s an image of the countryside and then a great quote. To be candid, it’s one of the most popular pages and the easiest page to produce. Beautiful images of the countryside are not hard to come by. On our side, we said, OK, this is a page that we don’t have to really do anything new with; it’s successful as is, but is there some way we can build on this; some way we can do something to get readers really excited about it.

So, I read an article in The New York Times recently about how adults have gotten into coloring books and these childhood-inspired crafts. Even our guest editor, Miranda Lambert, had posted something on Instagram the other day; she was coloring in a coloring book while drinking beer. (Laughs) It was like hashtag beer and coloring book.

One thing that a lot of people shop for at the Country Living fairs is paint-by-numbers, those relics of the 70s and 80s; they’ve really had a big resurgence. So, we found this Kentucky-based company, Easy 123 Art, to team up with and they have turned every image now on the back page of the magazine into a paint-by-numbers kit that readers can order.

We didn’t really change the DNA of the page, there’s just a small redirect to the company. And the company has been inundated with thousands and thousands of orders for these paint-by-numbers kits. It’s really been amazing. Some readers are sharing their paint-by-numbers art online; we’ve tapped into the sort of crafty mindset of readers and given them something else to take away from their magazine experience. So, that’s another example.

This is another small example; we’re introducing in our July/August issue a column called ‘Ask a Country Vet.’ It’s another really popular franchise. We have a fairly new country vet that answers our reader’s questions and talks all things animal. We know from social media that people just love adorable pet pictures, so now we’re adding one pet photo that’s just captioned ‘This Pet Photo’ and it’ll be almost our version of The New Yorker caption contest. So, we’ll see how much readers get into that. It kind of gives them the chance to be clever and we’ll run their best answers in the next issue of the magazine and hopefully, eventually we’ll tie it to a prize.

We’re just adding different levels of engagement. I mentioned that we moved Simple Country Pleasures to the back page of the magazine, so now we’re opening the feature well with a seasonal cross stitch and in June it’s a guitar because it’s a country themed issue, but we’ve done various cross stitch patterns. We make the cross stitch pattern available online and readers are sharing that they’ve recreated our cross stitch. Of course, the ultimate goal would be to sell a Country Living brand of cross stitch kits down the road and it’s beautiful that our copy editor is actually the person who does the cross stitch every month; she’s definitely multi-tasking. (Laughs)

We’re still exploring it every month, but kind of looking at pages that are already successful, but figuring out if there is a way to give them more depth either in the magazine or off the page.

Samir Husni: When David Carey announced that Country Living was moving to Birmingham, there were a lot of skeptics out there who said this move was just a nice way of killing the magazine, shipping it from New York to Birmingham. When you took this job, did you have any doubts or any fears that screamed: I’m moving from an established magazine that was doing very well to a brand that people were sure was about to end? Can you recall your original feelings when you were offered the job? Were you skeptical as well or did you jump and say, no, I believe in this brand and I’m with it all the way?

Rachel Barrett: Even when I moved from Real Simple to Southern Living, I kind of felt like it was a similar challenge. I felt like Southern Living had been a brand that my grandmother had read, but didn’t have as much cache with a younger audience or a new audience, so at the time I think even people in New York were asking; what is she doing. (Laughs) And Southern Living has had this great resurgence and a lot of success recently, so I felt like that challenge only inspired me. I had always loved Country Living. Way back in the day, when I was an associate editor at Glamour and Eliot Kaplan would do his requisite check-in with you and he asked me what magazine at Hearst would I ever want to be editor-in-chief of and I pointed at Country Living and he remembered that.

I love the content, it’s great. And I know while you’re transitioning a magazine, there are a lot of question marks around that and it creates storylines, but Country Living has such a healthy subscriber base and that’s something we’re looking to build on with the Country Living fairs and other events; it’s a really strong subscriber base and they’re very loyal, so I didn’t feel as uncertain as other people around me felt.

And I felt full support from Hearst; they handled the whole thing brilliantly. Transitioning a major national brand from New York to Birmingham, staffing it from scratch; I was also pregnant when I took the job, so that added to some of the chaos. (Laughs) But there were challenges and sometimes I’m floored, in retrospect, as to how we pulled it off. A lot of that credit goes to the New York-based Country Living team who sort of helped pass the torch in the most graceful manner.

I think one of the advantages; obviously, having some sort of history with the magazine, there’s a lot to be said for that, and there were a lot of people at Southern Living and it was so helpful to have these people around you who had this knowledge of the brand and why certain things didn’t work. It’s also rare and maybe unprecedented to be able to look at and build upon a decades-old brand through the eyes of an entirely new team. That was very exciting. Our style director came from the New York-based Country Living staff, but for the most part we were a fresh staff. There was no one saying ‘but that’s not how we’ve always done it.’

I think in some ways it was such an interesting opportunity to be able to take a magazine with a strong subscriber base and look at it with fresh eyes and fresh energy; trying to build on, I hope, the best parts of all the decades of the magazine.

Samir Husni: What was the major stumbling block you had to face and how did you overcome it?

Rachel Barrett: I think just starting from scratch. There was a small window of time where we had a temporary office space and a post-it note on the door that read Country Living. (Laughs) And our neighbors were like: what, the magazine?

In terms of recruiting during that interim period; recruiting a staff from scratch was definitely challenging. I brought over a couple of people from Southern Living who I really admired, but I also saw it as an opportunity to expand within the talent pool of Birmingham. I didn’t want our filter to naturally skew Southern; I wanted to make sure we had people representing different parts of the country. I think seven or eight people on our staff relocated from New York City and other locations. And we’re a small staff right now; we’re at 16.

Just building a staff from scratch and finding office space and really just finding the right balance, sometimes when new editors come in they’re very eager to try a million new things, but I realized that this isn’t a magazine where you need to do that. So, part of the challenge is just reining myself in. (Laughs) I mean, you get very excited and have a ton of ideas. Ellen Levine had some great advice; sometimes I’m like trying to brainstorm some flashy, amazing new pet column, and she says Ask a Country Vet is working, readers love it; don’t overthink it. (Laughs again) Sometimes I need to be reminded of that.

Samir Husni: And what has been the most pleasant moment?

Rachel Barrett: There was a week when we were fully staffed. We have an open position right now; our executive editor was just named editor-in-chief of Coastal Living.

As a small staff we just have lots of great, little victories; we’re a very close-knit group. Every time we get our new issues in the box delivered, we have sort of an official unveiling in the conference room.

The best moments are just every time we’ve added a person to the staff; it was also such a unique opportunity because the people would ask what’s the job description and we’d reply, well, what do you want it to be? (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too)

Rachel Barrett: When you have open headcount that’s entirely open; I mean normally at magazines you’re dealing with one very specific role, because one person leaves and they have a very decisive role and you’re filling that position. But with every new person that came onboard, I was asking well, what do you want to do and then we’ll hire the next person based on what you don’t want to do. It’s just been this really unique and interesting experience.

My dad is a recruiter, a headhunter, so maybe I learned a little from him. I was really pleasantly surprised. The most daunting thing probably was having a staff of one and three months pregnant. (Laughs) But one of the most surprising and rewarding things was building this really talented staff from scratch and seeing how well they work together and how everyone inspires each other here.

Samir Husni: The journalist in me has to ask you this question; was that like a Time Inc. revenge, getting your executive editor to be the editor-in-chief of Coastal Living because you left them? (Laughs)

Rachel Barrett: I don’t think so. (Laughs too) I feel like when you hire really talented people, other people are going to recognize their talent too. We were so excited for Steele (Marcoux). We had a champagne toast in the conference room and she was recently at High Point and uploaded a picture on Instagram with our address and I was like hands off, Steele Marcoux. (Laughs) I don’t see it as a revenge play at all, I think Steele is such a great hire; she was the first person I hired. Every meeting I was ever in with her, I was always in agreement.

So, I think if you’re looking to tap into the talent pool to hire a new editor-in-chief for Coastal Living, she was such a clear choice, regardless of where she was working. She also started her career there.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Rachel Barrett: One of the other exciting things on the heels of this country music play is that we have Country Living Backstage and I think this is a testament to how mainstream country has become. Back when I lived in New York City there wasn’t even a country station and now, of course, they have a country station and they’re also getting a huge country music festival this summer, in late June. It’s called FarmBorough and it’s a 3-day country music concert series that will be held on Randall’s Island. Country Living is also taking over the Green Room for that event. So, that’s exciting. Again, it’s a different audience; it’s a New York City-based audience and so we’re currently putting together the plans of how we’re going to decorate the Green Room for that event.

That’s been fun. It’s hard, because I left New York four years ago, and now I’m thinking if they’d only had a country station and a country concert festival when I lived there. (Laughs) But this is just another exciting thing that Country Living is doing, in tandem with this June issue.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Rachel Barrett: What doesn’t keep me up at night? (Laughs) For one, my two children. I have a two-year-old and a one-year-old. But in addition to them, I think it’s just excitement for Country Living. You know, we’re really a small magazine, as I have reiterated a couple of times, and so everyone multi-tasks. We’re definitely kind of scrappy; I’m working on everything from brainstorming the reader page to big picture brand-building.

I think step two for Country Living is really building on our fair franchise; we just had a really successful first-time Country Living fair in Nashville. I think we had 22,000-plus people attending over three days. I go to the fair and it’s a huge success, but then my brain begins churning with how do we build on this franchise and how do we round out the experience? Do we add a sound stage; just that sort of thing. So, the things that keep me up at night probably change every single day, but I think it’s just that we have a great magazine and how do we expand upon it in ways that are really going to resonate with our subscribers.

And then also those toddlers. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too) Thank you.