Joanna Coles (Editor: Cosmo, Marie Claire, more)

The Last Celebrity Magazine Editor

Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Print Is Dead (Long Live Print!).

For our first “pod-nership,” we’ve teamed up with The Spread, the brainchild of two former Elle magazine editors and “work wives,” Rachel Baker and Maggie Bullock, who, in 2021 found themselves wishing for the perfect women’s magazine—at the exact moment when women’s magazines were irrevocably going down the tubes.

Each week, The Spread rounds up juicy stories, big ideas, and deeply personal examinations of women’s lives—from The New York Times and The Atlantic to Vogue and Elle to NplusOne and The Drift. It’s no surprise that The Spread is now a cult favorite of media insiders—as well as the media-curious.

We’re excited to follow The Spread into the world of women’s magazines, starting with today’s interview with the ever-quotable former Cosmo and Marie Claire editor-in-chief, Joanna Coles, who Rachel & Maggie call “the last celebrity magazine editor.”

A production of Magazeum LLC ©2021–2025