Mr. Magazine

You can almost reach out and grab a bite from the pages of Food & Wine—the photography is so superb, it feels as if the food is leaping off the printed page. After feasting your eyes, you’re treated to storytelling that nourishes the mind. There aren’t many magazines that can truly offer a wholesome meal for both the eyes and the brain, but Food & Wine does exactly that.

Hunter Lewis, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine magazine, describes the experience this way: “It’s like being at a dinner party, sitting around a table with a delicious glass of wine and a beautiful meal. You drop the needle on a record and hear that warm, rich tone—that slight scratchy sound before the first song begins. Whether you can articulate that experience or not, you feel it in your mind, body, and soul. That’s what it’s like to consume a magazine in this day and age.”

My interview with Hunter felt just like sitting at the Food & Wine dinner table—an engaging conversation about the role of print in a digital age, the impact of AI on magazine publishing, surviving and thriving through two acquisitions, and the essential value of teamwork. We also discussed the Food & Wine Classic events held in Aspen and Charleston, South Carolina.

So, without further ado, please join me at the Food & Wine dinner table for a conversation with a chef, an editor, and a storyteller: Hunter Lewis. But first—the soundbites:

On the status of Food journalism: “I think food journalism in this day and age is very fractured. There are only a small handful of power players that are still healthy and thriving, and I would include Food & Wine in that mix.”

On the reason Food & Wine is thriving: “I’m very, very thankful that Food & Wine is among the top brands and continuing to thrive in this era. It shows that when you are a part of a company that is healthy, and you’re a part of a company that is investing in its brands and its people, and investing in great storytelling, investing in events, investing in digital growth, and you’re empowering brand leaders to do what they know is best for the audience, then you can grow.”

On thematic issues: “Any magazine worth its salt has done themed issues in the past.”

On Food & Wine thematic issues: “Really is a rallying cry and putting a stake in the ground and creating a tent pole for our readers to rally around and for advertisers to get excited about.”

On the role of the print edition: “The magazine is the heart and soul of the brand. It’s a physical evocation of the brand…. The magazine continues to anchor this brand.”

On whether his job is harder or easier today: “If you’re open to change and you’re open to evolving, it’s not as hard.”

On his role during the two acquisitions of Food & Wine: “My role during those two acquisitions and when I took over at Food & Wine was to make sure that I’m creating a brand that is super healthy, making sure that I’m creating a brand that is growing on all platforms.”

On whether AI is a creator, curator, or a thief of content: “All of the above. But I’m not scared of AI.  Anybody that is creating in this world today, you should at least be playing with Chat GPT and trying to better understand how AI works. I’ll be very clear; we do not use AI to create content for Food & Wine.”

On what keeps him up at night: “Thinking about my kids and this world today, and what kind of world it’s going to be for them when I’m gone.”

And now for the lightly edited conversation with Hunter Lewis, vice president and editor in chief Food & Wine:

Samir Husni: You have been at Food & Wine now for eight years, and you’ve been editor-in-chief before that at Cooking Light, and you worked almost with every food magazine. How would you describe the status of food journalism in this day and age?

Hunter Lewis:  I think food journalism in this day and age is very fractured. There are only a small handful of power players that are still healthy and thriving, and I would include Food & Wine in that mix.

I think that for many reasons, including the state of the industry, social media, the rise and cult of the personality of singular people who operate as brands has made it a very interesting playing field right now in terms of what brands are on the rise, what brands are on the wane, and I’m very, very thankful that Food & Wine is among the top brands and continuing to thrive in this era. It shows that when you are a part of a company that is healthy, and you’re a part of a company that is investing in its brands and its people, and investing in great storytelling, investing in events, investing in digital growth, and you’re empowering brand leaders to do what they know is best for the audience, then you can grow.

I’ve been a part of brands that aren’t growing, and I’ve seen what that means in terms of diverting those funds elsewhere or squeezing brands too tightly to return dividends to shareholders, so I’ve been on the other end of this, and right now is a very exciting time to be at Food & Wine because we’re a brand that is being prioritized and a brand that is growing.

Samir Husni: Is that the reason you’re going with thematic issues like the innovator issue, the travel issue, the summer recipes issue? Is that part of this dominance in the marketplace?

Hunter Lewis: I think any magazine worth its salt has done themed issues in the past.

This is not a new thing. What that does for us is it really is a rallying cry and putting a stake in the ground and creating a tent pole for our readers to rally around and for advertisers to get excited about. The purpose of the travel issue in May, which has become one of our bigger issues of the year, is really to get behind global tastemakers.

It’s something we started a few years ago.  It is our big travel tent pole, and it made sense to make the May travel issue and the timing of that digital launch in early to mid-April, and then also the print extension of it, all align. And so that was the timing for May.

For the innovators issue in July, the intention with that issue that comes out when we’re at the top of the mountain at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

That event is full of innovators across every part of the food and beverage and hospitality industry. And so, it made sense to create a magazine issue, during that timing, that reflected and celebrated the people that were participating in the event on our behalf, and then also a celebration of innovation in the culinary world. What is cool now is that we are using our events to bring our stories from the pages of the magazine to life on stage, or to create special dinners around the feature stories we’re telling.

A good example of that, this year at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, we had the July innovators issue cover blown up huge in the Grand Tasting tent, and we popped up a new activation for the brand called The Wine Bar by F&W and Friends. And we brought the family behind Red Boat Fish Sauce, and the owner of Red Boat is also making a new Cabernet in Napa. We brought Kuang Pham and his family to Aspen.

They served the cover recipe at The Wine Bar. They poured his Cab at The Wine Bar. And we made micheladas with his fish sauce, too.

So that was our way of bringing the brand to life and literally bringing the cover to life so our consumers could taste it at our marquee event. That’s one example. Another example is, last year was the 30th anniversary of Gramercy Tavern in New York City.

The idea for this restaurant was born in Aspen at our event many years ago with Tom Colicchio and Danny Meyer, two well-known New York City restaurateurs. We wanted to celebrate that legacy and that DNA within Food & Wine with a big feature story honoring Gramercy Tavern last year. And then we hosted a beautiful dinner in Aspen to bring it to life, too.

We’re really beginning to figure out how to use our events as a new extension of journalism and a new extension of telling stories and to bring these stories to life in real life where you can taste the food and meet the people behind the stories.

Samir Husni: And how do you define the role of the print, the magazine itself in this event age? I mean, what role does the ink on paper play?

Hunter Lewis: The magazine is the heart and soul of the brand. It’s a physical evocation of the brand.

A point of strength. It’s a beautiful product that people use every day in their lives. The magazine and the people that make the magazine and that work on our website and social and video and events are the beating heart of the brand.

The magazine continues to anchor this brand.

Samir Husni: Is your life today as editor-in-chief easier or harder than it was before COVID?

Hunter Lewis:  I don’t think it’s about easier or harder. I think the pace of change is so much faster now than it’s ever been in my lifetime.

As long as you’re okay with change and managing and leading change, then it’s not hard. It’s always hard. Every job in the country is hard in one way or another, but we’re not scared of the hard.

What we’re asking our team to do and everybody that works for this brand to do is to understand that to remain relevant, we’re going to need to continue to embrace change. And so, if you don’t embrace change, it gets hard. If you’re open to change and you’re open to evolving, it’s not as hard.

Samir Husni: As you are open to change and evolving, what has been the biggest challenge you faced since you became editor-in-chief of Food & Wine?

Hunter Lewis: I think the biggest challenge is keeping Food & Wine healthy through multiple acquisitions. When I started at Food & Wine, I was running both Cooking Light and Food & Wine, and that was during the Time Inc. days. And then Meredith acquired Food & Wine as a part of that Time Inc. acquisition.

The priorities changed within the company. The executive team at the top of the masthead changed, and we had to navigate that change while we’re also navigating how to run a brand through COVID. And then we were acquired by Dotdash and the company became Dotdash Meredith, and we navigated that change too.

So my role during those two acquisitions and when I took over at Food & Wine was to make sure that I’m creating a brand that is super healthy, making sure that I’m creating a brand that is growing on all platforms, making sure that I’m growing a brand that has more value and is earning more revenue and has a larger audience now than when I started, and that I’m stewarding a brand that will be stronger when I leave it than when I found it.  

Samir Husni: Did you accomplish all these goals?

Hunter Lewis: I’m very, very excited. I’m very happy about the work we’ve done.

I’m very excited about us growing in the way that we have, but our work’s not done. I’m riding a wave on this glorious surfboard, and I want to keep riding it. So, my goals are not complete.

This brand still has a long way to go and more growth ahead.  I want to keep riding this wave with my colleagues and see how far it’s going to take us.

Samir Husni: What’s the secret sauce for this wave that keeps Food & Wine healthy, like 130 pages in print and, you know, with all the events and all?

Hunter Lewis: There’s no secret sauce. It’s the executive team at Dotdash Meredith investing in Food & Wine, believing in us, understanding that what we are creating is hyper-relevant in today’s times, empowering us, and then for us to go and do the job every day and show up and bring great energy.

The energy that we’re putting out at Food & Wine across all platforms, in the magazine, online, on social, on video, and at our events, is absolutely about the team and the energy they’re putting forward individually and collectively in our team culture. There’s not one answer to that in terms of the secret sauce, but it’s all about the energy that we’re putting in, the focus that we have, and it’s a blessing that we have all these different platforms and different revenue streams because it’s not one, we’re not a one-sided brand. We’re not just earning revenue and growing audience on the website.

We’re doing that in multiple ways, and that’s why Food & Wine is thriving.

Samir Husni: You have an event coming up in Charleston, South Carolina, The Food & Wine Classic. Tell me about that event.

Hunter Lewis: The Food & Wine Classic in Charleston is a collaboration with Travel & Leisure and Southern Living, two of our sister brands. I’m very close with Jacqui (Gifford) and with Sid (Evans), and it’s our way to bring the DNA and the legacy and the beauty of gathering at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, which we’ve now done for 42 years, and taking that magic and bringing it to the low country region of Charleston. We have deep, deep relationships in Charleston. It’s an incredible culinary scene.

There’s no other city in the country like it that has such rich history and architecture and culture and food ways, and so our job in hosting the Classic in Charleston for the second year is to bring all that local talent to the stage and spotlight the culture that is there, and then bring some of our partners and chefs and drink professionals and hospitality pros from the national stage to the city and blend that talent together to create a special event that these three brands host in Charleston.

Samir Husni: And if somebody approached you at that event and said, Mr. Lewis, I have an idea for a new food magazine, what do you tell them?

Hunter Lewis:  A new food magazine? I think that there’s always a place for print in this environment. I just went to Casa Magazines the other night to grab a couple journals and other magazines for research, and I’m either the most naive guy on the planet, or the strongest, deepest gut reaction I’ve ever felt in my career is what I feel right now, that in the age of artificial intelligence, the brands and the magazines that are coming from a point of strength, the brands and the magazines that are differentiating themselves from the competition by putting out a beautiful product with great imagery and crackerjack writing are going to continue to differentiate themselves from the competition, and they’re going to differentiate themselves from what is not real, and they’re going to differentiate themselves from AI slop.

I strongly believe that artificial intelligence is going to make food and wine more valuable in some ways. Now it’s going to threaten pieces of our business, and we’re not going to be immune to some of those challenges like Google Zero, and the issues with Google not sending sessions back to brands like Food & Wine like they’ve done for the past 20 plus years. We’re not immune to that like any other brand in the digital space, but I fully believe that whether consumers can articulate it or not, they want real experiences.

They want to gather at our events. They want to read and engage with a magazine, whether they’re leaning back in their armchair, or they’re leaning forward and they’re cooking from Food & Wine at the stove. They’re going to continue to want this physical object in their hands that is beautiful and usable.

And I equate it a lot to being at a dinner party when you’re sitting around a table with a delicious glass of wine and a beautiful meal, and you put a needle on a record, and you play that record, and you hear that warm, rich tone and that slight scratchy noise that happens before the first song plays. Whether you can articulate that experience or not, you feel it in your mind, body, and soul. And that’s what it’s like to consume a magazine in this day and age.

I think that is going to become an even more valuable experience as the world becomes less real and more artificially manufactured.

Samir Husni: So, do you think AI will be more of a curator, creator, or a thief when it comes to content?

Hunter Lewis: All of the above. But I’m not scared of AI.  Anybody that is creating in this world today, you should at least be playing with Chat GPT and trying to better understand how AI works. I’ll be very clear; we do not use AI to create content for Food & Wine.

We are investing in video, we’re investing in photography, we’re investing in award-winning writing. You know, we just won our first National Magazine Award this year for a story called The City That Rice Built, also won a James Beard award. So, we’re not using AI for shortcuts.

But as creators, we’re using AI to better understand how it works and what we’re up against. I think it’s already transforming creative spaces. It’s already transforming how people are searching online in the ways that they used to type in a search question in a Google browser.

It’s absolutely happening overnight, and it’s happening rapidly. I mean, this feels like the fastest change to me since the iPhone was created, if not faster. And I think the implications are much greater.

Samir Husni: If I come, unannounced, to visit you one evening, what do I catch Hunter doing? Reading a book, watching TV, cooking? Hunter Lewis: I’ll welcome you upstairs and into the kitchen, and there’ll be some jazz playing on the speaker, and I’ll be cooking dinner for my family, which is what I do in Birmingham, six nights a week, and welcome you to our table, and pour you a glass of wine.

That’s my happy place.

Samir Husni: And what keeps you up at night these days?

Hunter Lewis: Thinking about my kids and this world today, and what kind of world it’s going to be for them when I’m gone. It’s a crazy world right now, and I think it’s becoming a more selfish world, and a more selfish country, that’s what keeps me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Armed with a degree in curiosity from the University of the World, Jacqui Gifford navigates the seas and skies of the globe safely, wisely and brilliantly — offering glimpses of it on a silver platter to the audience of Travel + Leisure multimedia platforms, whether it is the ink on paper or the pixels on a screen. 

Jacqui is quick to acknowledge that there is less than 5% duplication between her print audience and her digital audience, but she makes no excuses for that.

The travel market suffered a major blow during the COVID pandemic.  Jacqui, who had been editor-in-chief for only two years at the time, had to react and act swiftly to keep the brand afloat.  She told me, “Obviously, there’ve been pandemics before. In modern times to completely shut down the world as it was — for the travel business, it was heartbreaking.”

Quick to adapt to the necessary changes, Jacqui — “on the fly,” her words not mine — developed a plan and strategy to continue Travel + Leisure on all fronts.  And that strategy worked.

Ever the planner, she recalled, “Coming out of COVID, that formative time, I saw the desire for in person networking and interaction, and discussion was really at an all-time high.” That insight led to the idea with an idea of convening travel business leaders, which culminated in Travel + Leisure’s first World’s Best Summitt in 2024.  It was such a success that an encore one is planned for this coming July in NYC.

So, without further ado, here is my interview with Jacqui Gifford, editor-in-chief, Travel + Leisure:

But first the soundbites:

On the influence of being born overseas and moving to many countries due to her father’s job: “I think it really made me a more curious, empathetic person, because my parents really enjoyed learning about other cultures.”

On her strategy during COVID: “The game we could win was giving people inspiration and hope that there was something on the other side. So, we continued to do these beautiful travel stories. We used local reporters.”

On the biggest change in Travel + Leisure since she became editor: “I’d say letting the photography speak for itself.”

On whether they use AI or not in Travel + Leisure: “No, we do not. We have real people producing our content and that’s something that’s fundamental to who we are as a brand. We have people checking into the hotels. We have people flying the planes. We have people visiting, sailing on the cruise ships to create the content that matters to our audiences. So that is not something we’re doing.”

On her biggest competitor: “There’s a lot of great content out there and you’re competing for the eyeballs of all these people and you realize that they’re time poor these days, whether they’re busy at home, at work, they’re bombarded by content all day long.”

On her advice to deal with competition: “I think anybody who’s in this position at any brand must acknowledge that the competition isn’t just the traditional format. It’s, all sorts of things.”  

On the value of print in a digital age: “Well, the magazine to me, the magazine is healthy. It’s beautiful. It’s that classic lean back experience that allows you to see our covers in the back. Long form journalism is something we still do at Travel + Leisure. We’re incredibly proud of it.”

On the second World’s Best Summit: “This year, we have a full new round of topics to discuss whether it’s expedition travel, solo travel, all inclusive, like the rise of and reinvention of all inclusive, the loyalty landscape and where that’s shifting and going. So those are just a few of many topics, but I think it’s going to be great.”

On her biggest challenge: “I would say this. I think that the biggest challenge that anybody has today, if you’re a journalist, if you’re an editor in chief, is, is prioritization.”

On how she unwinds at the end of the day: “If I’m going to unwind, I probably take a bath.”

On what keeps her up at night: “The main thing will always be my son. I’m always worried about him. But he’s a great kid.”

On her favorite country: “I’m going to say as of right now, and I’m biased a little bit, because I was born there. Japan…”

And now for the lightly edited interview with Jacqui Gifford, editor-in-chief, Travel + Leisure:

Samir Husni: My first question to you, you have a marvelous background, born in Japan, headed to Saudi Arabia, then Qatar, then Bahrain, and then back to Philadelphia.

Jacqui Gifford: Yeah.

Samir Husni: Does this background help you as an editor-in-chief of Travel + Leisure?

Jacqui Gifford: 100 percent. There’s not even a question. I was so fortunate. My father’s work took us to all the countries you just named.

And when we were living in the Middle East, and when we were living in Japan, my mom and dad prioritized seeing all the countries that were in the region.  So, when we lived in Japan, we went to Hong Kong. I did mainland China when I was 13 years old. We went to Malaysia, the Philippines.

When we lived in the Middle East. We did Egypt. We did Dubai.

We were really, I don’t want to say ahead of the curve, but in some ways, I think when I lived in Doha, there were three hotels in the whole destination. And now every single luxury brand is there. The airport is state of the art.

I was just writing about this in my current editor’s letter. We used to deplane on the tarmac. Basically, the old airport, there were six gates. It’s amazing to see the transformation of that part of the world, but also just in general, how much more intrepid travelers are these days.

We would go to places. I think it really made me a more curious, empathetic person, because my parents really enjoyed learning about other cultures.

Samir Husni: So, can we say you have a degree in curiosity?

Jacqui Gifford: I love that.

I got my BA, not at Princeton, but a BA in global curiosity from University of the World. Yes, you’re right.

Samir Husni: You started working at Travel + Leisure in 2013, but you became editor-in-chief in 2018. Then two years later, the world changed. How did you cope?

Jacqui Gifford: That was one, without a doubt, the most difficult thing I’ve ever lived through as on a human level, just personally, and then certainly in business, it was unprecedented for the travel industry. The travel industry has been through ups and downs. We had 9-11 impact global travel, also in New York where I moved here right after that. And people were hesitant to travel, for sure.

There’s always been sort of dips after the financial crisis, people pulled back a little bit, but COVID-19 was unprecedented. Obviously, there’ve been pandemics before. In modern times to completely shut down the world as it was, for the travel business, it was heartbreaking.

I saw people must let go of employees. They didn’t know which way their business was going to go. And at Travel + Leisure, what we did, we moved to work remotely, and we still produce the magazine.

We never stopped, never stopped producing content for the website or social media. We adjusted our tone, and we were looking and monitoring the news. But I think the strategy that I developed, and in all honesty, I developed it on the fly because, again, no one had ever lived through this before.

I knew that people would travel again. And we were never going to fully, as journalists, travel journalists, understand the nature of the disease and how fast and where it was going to go. That was a game we weren’t going to win.

The game we could win was giving people inspiration and hope that there was something on the other side. So, we continued to do these beautiful travel stories. We used local reporters.

We got people out in the field safely. There were plenty of stories when we would be sending a photographer and then wait, nope, we couldn’t do it. There were stops and starts, but most of the time, we kept things running.

I think that was the right approach because now we’ve seen it play out that travel is now so ingrained and fundamental in people’s lives. They just don’t want to give it up.

Samir Husni: If you are to pinpoint one major change that you did with the magazine since you became editor-in-chief, what will that change be?

Jacqui Gifford: I would say the biggest change is, I know that, here I have our latest issue. I can hold it up for you. It’s a beautiful picture. I’d say letting the photography speak for itself.

You know, a lot of the old magazine-making covers, cover lines were designed for a newsstand where people would go and physically walk past a newsstand and this line would catch their eye, right? And so, if you look at magazines, even from like five or six years ago, a lot of them were still doing that and having, the line at the top. There’s an art to it. I appreciate that art, but that art is frankly dying as newsstands die.

They’re still important, but it’s not as big of a part of our business. Travel + Leisure never was really a newsstand brand anyway.  I think one of the biggest changes is just not feeling like so tied to old ways of doing things.

I was like we’re going to let the imagery speak for itself. We don’t need to clutter it up and make it into something that a person at an airport is going to just like grab their attention, let them be grabbed by the picture and less about the words.

Samir Husni:  And talking about pictures, we must mention AI.

Do you use AI in any of your photography or content?

Jacqui Gifford: No, we do not. We have real people producing our content and that’s something that’s fundamental to who we are as a brand. We have people checking into the hotels.

We have people flying the planes. We have people visiting, sailing on the cruise ships to create the content that matters to our audiences. So that is not something we’re doing.

Samir Husni: Excellent. There are quite a few new travel magazines that were born in the last two or three years, Travel. They are very specialized with high cover prices and low frequencies. Do you consider this competition?

Jacqui Gifford: Sure.  I consider them competition, but you must remember Travel +Leisure isthe world’s largest travel media brand, across print, digital, social. But in this period of media and history,  if we were to look back, the media ecosystem, there’s a lot of great content out there and you’re competing for the eyeballs of all these people and you realize that they’re  time poor these days, whether they’re busy at home, at work, they’re bombarded by content all day long.

Their friends’ content on Instagram, obviously we’re on Instagram bombarding them with content too, in a good way. So, I consider, I don’t consider just niche magazines, travel magazines, competitors. They are so many other things, like Netflix is a competitor of ours to a certain degree because people want to watch travel shows and food shows and that’s something that we cover.

So, I think anybody who’s in this position at any brand must acknowledge that the competition isn’t just the traditional format. It’s, all sorts of things. That’s the hardest part of this job and any, job in media is that there’s just more and more stuff to consume and you need to cut; you must be good at what you do to cut through the clutter. Everybody’s time poor.

We cannot add another hour to our day, and even we did add that extra hour, there’s other stuff that people want to do.

I have a young son, sitting in and reading books at home to him or other things. There was a way of life that I remember very, quite distinctly when, before the internet, before this, the way that the pace of life was, it was a little bit slower. You grew up watching TV, you had in Philadelphia, where I lived for a little bit, you had three, six, and 10, the major channels and networks and Fox eventually came in there, but that was your options. Now, I don’t even know how many options there are. I think people are paralyzed by choice sometimes.

Samir Husni: As you investigate your experience as a travel writer, as an editor, what do you enjoy most, the service journalism aspect or the aspirational aspects? The do something writing or the sit back relax and enjoy writing?

Jacqui Gifford:  That’s a great question. I love it all.

That’s part of my problem is that I probably try to do too much, but I’ll give you two good examples. So I’m on TikTok, I just posted of something yesterday about traveling with my parents who are older, and what you can do to help, to navigate that process when you’re traveling with someone who’s older, check your bags, don’t do carry on, research where your gate is,  research where the bathroom is, the restaurants, all sorts of stuff, because as they’ve gotten older, and they were professional travelers back in the day, it’s gotten more challenging. That’s service journalism, me talking right to my fans and followers.

I love doing stuff like that. The flip side, I also like checking into a hotel and writing a little bit of a longer piece about something that’s not quite so straightforward. I did a story for us that won an award which was exciting about a cruise that we did to the way it sparked curiosity, to your point earlier about nature and wildlife in my then seven-year-old son.

That just took more time to produce. There’s value in both things.

Samir Husni:  Before we talk about the World’s Best Summit that is coming up in July, let me ask you if your journey at Travel + Leisure has been a walk in a rose garden?

Jacqui Gifford: No, no, it’s never a walk in a rose garden. I mean, well, COVID being a big challenge for travel, and you know, and this is true, science proves me right. You are trained to forget trauma. Your brain wants you to forget something that’s traumatic.

COVID was incredibly traumatic for the globe. I purposely tried to remind the travel industry how dark that period was, because I don’t want us to forget. And I don’t want to forget how hard it was for me as a manager, but I did it.

Some of my most creative work came out of that time. But again, nobody wants to talk about it because our brains, it’s too hard to think about. But, no, it’s not been a walk in a rose garden.

But look it’s like any job. There are some days when you feel like things are going your way. And then there are some days that, no matter what you do, you just feel like you can’t get the right foot forward.

I feel very confident in team we have at Travel + Leisure, which is why we launched the summit, and which we’re very proud of and going into year two, it’s going to be fantastic.

Samir Husni:  Before I ask you about the summit, what do you believe in 2025, is the role of the printed Travel + Leisure in this digital age?

Jacqui Gifford: Well, the magazine to me, the magazine is healthy. It’s beautiful.

It’s that classic lean back experience that allows you to see our covers in the back. Long form journalism is something we still do at Travel + Leisure. We’re incredibly proud of it.

We invest in sending photographers and writers out into the field to tell the more immersive stories that people want to pick it up a magazine and sit back and have some time to themselves. I do that with other magazines when I’m at home. I also think there’s something aspirational if you have a beautiful magazine in your house to have it on your coffee table.

There’s a timeless quality to it. I’ve noticed this with some of our magazines; you could pick up last year’s July issue of  Travel + Leisure and find plenty of articles. Most of them, no, you know what I’m going to say, all of them are still relevant because they’re there, the writing is sharp, the execution is good.

You’re not being fed that content by an algorithm. Right? It’s there’s a sense of discovery. And I find that when I read anything in print, usually I find something that I wasn’t, I didn’t know I was looking for.

And that’s the beauty of why people still read magazines is that they can get a great idea. And they’re not just typing and searching; the intent isn’t there yet. And then they, they find something, and they go, oh, I never thought about that.

Maybe I’ll take that trip in another, in another year, and six months, whatever. So that’s the value of print. And you must have across all the different channels; you have to have a strategy that speaks to that audience.

There’s a 5% duplication rate between the digital audience of Travel + Leisure and the print audience. We’re talking to two different people. And that’s okay. Maybe we don’t need to worry so much about how you grow the pie; you don’t have to hit people at every single medium; it’s okay, if someone who’s on TikTok and loves Travel +Leisure isn’t reading the magazine, I’d love for them to, and maybe they will someday. But if they’re not doing it right the second, that’s fine.

Samir Husni: Through the grapevine, I heard that you have a favorite cover of Travel + Leisure, can you tell me which one and why?

Jacqui Gifford: You heard from the grapevine, my favorite cover? Oh, wow. I don’t know. I don’t want to give you wrong answer. From this year? Or was it just in general?

Samir Husni: In general.

Jacqui Gifford: Favorite cover? I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. I mean, this year, I loved the cover we did of Gabon, of two gorillas.

It was a mother gorilla holding a baby gorilla. I thought that was breathtaking. Because the gorillas faces and the way she was looking at the baby and the baby was looking at her and holding its arm around her.

I know our readers like wildlife, and I enjoy that. It’s one of the things that moves me when I travel. And when I saw that picture, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is evolution.

Samir Husni: Thank you. Moving to the Second World’s Best Summit that you intend to host in NYC this coming July, what can you tell me about it?

Jacqui Gifford: The summit is interesting. I will say it’s mostly B2B.

It’s not necessarily, we do have reader interaction, which I’ll get to at the Food and Wine Classic in Charleston, which Travel +Leisure is a part of. I know because I interacted with our readers there, because they would see the advertisements in the magazine, on social media, and they bought tickets. And I hosted a crabbing tour, which was awesome.

The World’s Best Summit is something I’ve thought about doing for some time. But we finally pulled the trigger as it were to do it last year, because I think coming out of COVID, that formative time, I saw the desire for in person networking and interaction, and discussion was really at an all-time high. Travel + Leisure participates in so many conferences, so many events.

I’ve been to enough of them to know what’s a good one.  I felt like we could do a really good job of showing our expertise, our authority, our trust with our own in-house editors, moderating and curating discussion. It’s not huge, it’s 350 people, which is but we want. the right 350 people, we want people to come and to really participate and learn.

We launched it last year. And it was a lot of work, but it was fun. I have a very healthy respect for people who do events.

It’s very time consuming, but it was a runaway success, people really enjoyed it. And so, we have our World’s Best Awards around the time of the summit. It’s kind of just a big celebratory moment for Travel + Leisure in general.

I think what’s great about it is that there’s a lot of conferences out there that do a great job of talking about the industry, but I think from an editorial lens and sort of weaving consumer trends with business knowledge, thinking about it from the readers perspective. That’s where we’re coming from. And nobody really was doing that.

They’re doing it perhaps with other topics and other brands. But that’s what we did. And it’s great.

Samir Husni:  How is this year’s Summit going to be different?

Jacqui Gifford: This year, we have a full new round of topics to discuss whether it’s expedition travel, solo travel, all inclusive, like the rise of and reinvention of all inclusive, the loyalty landscape and where that’s shifting and going. So those are just a few of many topics, but I think it’s going to be great. We’re very excited.

Samir Husni: Are you adding to your title Event in Chief.

Jacqui Gifford: Yeah, exactly.

But you know what, the thing about an in-person event, it’s draining, it’s that adrenaline rush that gets you through but once you’re done, and you look back at what we accomplished and all the people we met and talked with; I think it was inspiring.  I see for the future of Travel + Leisure, whether it’s the Summit, or the Classic in Charleston, or as yet unnamed event, I think going and meeting people where they are is important.

Samir Husni: And do you think this is to help solidify the brand?

Jacqui Gifford: For sure.

There’s no question. If you’re not talking about yourself and all that you’re doing, and this is something our CEO Neil Vogel is so great about, and really, you must be getting out there and telling your brand story if you’re not doing it. You have to be relentless about explaining the mission, talking to the audience, and you can repeat yourself, that’s fine.

This is what I was talking about earlier with the fracturing of people’s time and attention. There are people that don’t know yet that we’re doing this Summit. And that’s okay, but we’ve got to keep telling people about it. We’ve got to continue to message how important it is and why people need to be there.

Samir Husni:  Before I ask you my two final typical questions, is there any question I failed to ask you I should ask you?

Jacqui Gifford: Oh, my gosh. I don’t think so.

You know what, I would say this. I think that the biggest challenge that anybody has today, if you’re a journalist, if you’re an editor in chief, is, is prioritization. You know, that’s to me is the hardest part of this job, you kind of asked about it a little bit earlier.

I’ve sort of always lived by the mantra that more is more is more. And that sort of mentality is what keeps Travel + Leisure going.

The people who work here, they’re just naturally curious people. But still, we need to be focused on the right things all the time. And if something’s not working, it’s okay to say goodbye to that thing if it’s not working.

Sami Husni: And if I come to visit you one evening unannounced, what do I catch Jacqui doing to unwind?

Jacqui Gifford: Well, I’m an intense person. So, it’s very hard for me to unwind. But you’re going to like this answer.

I am militant about taking a bath. I take baths all the time. I don’t really like showers.

If I’m going to unwind, I probably take a bath.

Samir Husni: And what keeps you up at night these days?

Jacqui Gifford: There are lots of things that keep me up at night.

But the main thing will always be my son. I’m always worried about him. But he’s a great kid.

It’s not one specific thing. It’s just, when you’re a mom, you want the best for your kid. And that’s it.

The other thing too, I like to if I’m up, which I am, sometimes 2 am to 4 am, you can always text me. I use that time to read. And I know it’s not necessarily the best thing.

But I find I’ll often just go into my living room and sit and look out at the skyline and read. And that’s another form of my meditation on living in New York City. Gosh, like, isn’t this cool? I don’t want to fight being awake sometimes.

I just look out at the skyline and appreciate it.

Samir Husni: And one final question, best country or city you’ve been to?

Jacqui Gifford: Okay. This is a very difficult question.

I’m sure I get a version of this all the time. I’m going to say as of right now, and I’m biased a little bit, because I was born there. But Japan, having just been and come back from Tokyo, I grew up there, I think it’s, it’s got to be up there for all the reasons that, you know, culture, food, art, fashion.

I love Tokyo Disneyland. There’re so many great things about it. And I feel similar vibes when I’m up in Tokyo, because usually I’m jet lagged.

I like to just look out at the skyscrapers and the lights, and I leave my blinds up just because I don’t like feeling sort of entombed in a soulless hotel room somewhere. I think Tokyo is really a great place.

Samir Husni: Excellent.  Thank you.

A former journalism professor of Dave Leathers once told him journalism is not for him (Dave), he better choose another career for his future. Fifty years later, Dave is a very successful journalist, publisher and CEO of Showcase Publishing, Inc. based in Kansas City.  After dropping out of college, Dave started working for his father’s weekly newspaper in 1974 and enjoyed the work in what were “the great days” for weekly newspapers.  In 1984, he saw the signs of what was happening in the newspaper world, and being the “drop-out” kid from college, he opted to head into magazines, “niche” magazines to be more specific.

His first magazine Kansas City Homes and Gardens made money from its very first issue.  What started as a one title grew into many specialized publications dealing with niche topics from shelter titles to relocating titles to help their audience find their ways in a new location.

Showcase Publishing Inc. now publishes three main titles: Cabo Living, Lake of the Ozarks Second Home Living, and Lake Relo.

In addition to the aforementioned titles the company publishes many other special issues and one shots dealing with shelter and relocation topics.

When I asked Dave about his secret for thriving over the last 40 years, his answer was one word, “Passion.”  And this passionate man has proven without any doubt that following your passion, identifying the correct market, and knowing your competition will lead to success.  A firm believer in ink on paper, Dave Leathers is a joy to chat with and to learn from.

So without any further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Dave Leathers, CEO and Publisher at Showcase Publishing, Inc., but first for the sound bites:

On his secret for success: “Well, I would say passion.”

More on his secret for success: “I learned hard work and persistence from my father. I did not graduate from college.”

On his publishing team: “I do not have an employee working for me that has not been with me at least 15 years. So we don’t have turnover.”

On how he chooses his publications’ markets: “Just felt that they were a ripe market that was underserved, basically.”

On his advice to someone wanting to start a new magazine: “I would say the first thing would be what market, what are the competitors and what is your background?”

On the role of print in a digital age: “When you pick up a niche magazine… and you’re looking through it, the last thing on your mind is fake news. It’s there in front of you.”

On his 40 years marker: “I still enjoy every day and I enjoy the people I work with.”

On what keeps him up at night: “The environment we’re living in today and the future for our children.”

And now for the lightly edited interview with Dave Leathers, CEO and Publisher at Showcase Publishing, Inc.

Samir Husni: My first question to you,  you’ve been at this for 40 years. You never gave up on print and you still publish several magazines on a regular basis in ink on paper. What’s your secret? What’s your affinity to print and how did you survive all those 40 years?

Dave Leathers: Well, I would say passion. I’ll never forget a seminar at Folio in New York City.

It was probably 15 years ago and those were pretty big deals at the time. A New York Times speaker declared that within the next two years, print would be obsolete and gone.

I don’t know where that speaker is today. He’s probably gone. But, so many people declare so many things.

The newspaper business has been drastically affected. And so is the national magazines.

You go to the magazine racks in the airport now, you can barely find a magazine. So there are certain ones that have.

I decided that I’d get into the magazine in 1985. I was working for my father from 1974 to 1984. He had a weekly newspaper and weeklies back then were going very well.  I believed in a niche market that continues to stay relevant and I believed a niche magazine will be successful. The fact that, you know, Ryan Dohrn had 370 publishers at The Niche Media Conference in Las Vegas last week really says it all.

The niche magazines here in Kansas City today, there’s probably 12 to 15 magazines just in the Kansas City metro market, which is,  3 to 4 million people. And so are all of them doing well? I’d say they’re all doing good. Some are doing very well.

And a lot of them are ex-employees. I learned hard work and persistence from my father. I did not graduate from college.

Actually, my reporting teacher at Kansas State, my journalism year, told me that I would never make it in journalism and find another career. So, I found a career and continue to believe in it. And the people that I work with, I do not have an employee working for me that has not been with me at least 15 years. So we don’t have turnover.

Samir Husni: So tell me, how do you pick the markets where you publish?

Dave Leathers: Well, when we started, we started a magazine called Kansas City Homes and Gardens in 1985.

I was in a Delta Crown room in Atlanta and I saw Austin Homes and Gardens. And I said, you know what, I think Kansas City could do that as well. So I called the publisher, Hazel Gulley, and she said, come on down and see me.

So my wife and I drove. She loaded my car up with three boxes of her magazines. Spent two days with her and came back to Kansas City and used her magazine as the template for what I said I would do.

And so I did that. We were profitable from day one. First magazine was profitable.

And so we were in Kansas City. We did a relocating magazine, a visitor guide to ancillary publications. And from there, decided that we could do other markets.

And so we did St. Louis. We did Vail, Colorado. We did Las Vegas.

We felt that those markets could use a publication. Most of those were relocation magazines. People that were moving to there, they did not have a magazine that we thought was appropriate.

How did we choose those? Just felt that they were a ripe market that was underserved, basically. Cabo Living Magazine was started because a graduate from Kansas University came to me for a job. She spoke fluent Spanish. I had been to Cabo 96 and she said she thought it would be a good market.

So we started that one in Mexico. That’s a whole other podcast about doing business in Mexico. And so we started that and found a publisher in Los Angeles who’s still with us today.

He just turned 80 years old. And same crew, same people, all from Los Angeles are still working on Cabo Living Magazine.

Samir Husni: So you were doing remote publishing before remote publishing was in vogue?

Dave Leathers: I would say yes.

It’s kind of interesting, Samir. The City & Regional Magazine Association (CRMA), which is a great organization, when we first got into it in the late 80s, we were the ugly stepchild.

They didn’t really think we were real. Philadelphia, Boston Magazine, Washingtonian, they were the kings. So they let us hang around.

And then all of a sudden they discovered in the 90s that everybody wanted a magazine that had to do with shelter. It had to do with the home and the garden. Then they started a subsidiary of CRMA called the Regional Shelter Magazine Association.

Myself and Gina Schreiber from Atlanta and some other people, we were kind of the original people. Norm Tomlinson Jr. from New Jersey. That became a huge part of their business model and still is today.

D Magazine,  was another one that had a home and garden magazine. That changed quite a bit. But today it’s still a very, very solid market.

Samir Husni: You’re a great believer in ink on paper for those titles. If somebody comes to you and said, Mr. Leathers, I want to start a new magazine, what would you tell them?

Dave Leathers: Well, I would say the first thing would be what market, what are the competitors and what is your background? Those basically would be the first three things that I would ask them. Does money factor into it? To some degree.

But I would say that’s basically it. It’s kind of interesting. I was in the Scottsdale, Phoenix area a few weeks ago. There are a couple of magazines, and I looked at who the owners were. It was a lady who I met at one of the first CRMA back in the 80s that said they were looking to start a magazine in that area. And so I helped them.

She’s still plowing forward.  But what they had back then was an incredible market. They had a great background, and they were certainly passionate about what they were going to do. So, if you don’t have the work ethic, I think you need not apply.

Samir Husni: How do you define the role of print in this digital age?

Dave Leathers: Well, I would say first thing is,  print today, especially this year, we’re barraged with fake news.

I think it’s kind of gone full circle. When you pick up a niche magazine, I guess not any magazine, but you pick it up and you’re looking through it, the last thing on your mind is fake news. It’s there in front of you.

The story has been done, written. It’s been edited, probably looked over by several people. And it’s believable.

We’ve always tried to edit to female readership, specifically upscale female readership. And today, whether it’s my daughter at 35 or my wife who’s 65, they loves magazines. They love the quality.

We’ve seen, and you know better than anyone, we’ve seen people try to cut back on the quality of their publication. And many times that is not going to go well. We have never cut back, even through the financial crisis, which was, you know, awful for all of us.

We never cut back or thought about it. And I said, if I have to, it’s not a product I’m proud of. And so it’s that feel of the publication, whether it’s on the coffee table or wherever it is, still today is relevant.

People like to continue to sing the praises of it, it’s inspiring. It really is.

Samir Husni: Is there any question that I should ask you, I did not ask you?

Dave Leathers: Well, no, not really. I would say, you know, as far as our 40 years, it’s gone by quick, actually.

And do I still enjoy it today? Yeah, I do still enjoy it today. Inflation, you know, the cost of production, obviously, has continued to spiral upward. And that has made it harder.

It’s not like we’re Target or Whole Foods or wherever that is. If we get a price increase, we can’t add it on to the cost of goods or, negotiate a tremendous deal. We work with printers and they’ve been a great partner.

But the cost of doing business, it wears on you. But I still enjoy every day and I enjoy the people I work with. And so, as long as my health holds out, I have no interest in, you know, going to Florida and playing golf five days a week and jump aboard the other two days.

So I’m just going to stay here and do my thing.

Samir Husni: So here are my last two typical questions. If I come uninvited to your house one evening, what do I catch Dave doing? Reading a book, watching TV, having a glass of wine? What do you do to unwind at the end of the day?

Dave Leathers: Well,  my wife and I would be listening to jazz. I would be drinking tequila, Topo Chico with a lime.

And she would have a glass of wine. That would be our typical end of the day.

Samir Husni: And what keeps Dave up at night these days?

Dave Leathers: I really would prefer not to get political. So just the environment we’re living in today and the future for our children. I think about it a lot. But I’m going to stay positive and hoping for the best, Samir. Hoping for the best.

We’ve been blessed and I’m thankful to have people like you around that support our industry. Because without that, you know, we couldn’t pay the bills.

Samir Husni: Thank you.