Jane Pratt

Jane Pratt (born November 11, 1962) is the founding editor of Sassy, Jane and xoJane.[1][2] She is the host of the talk show Jane Radio on Sirius XM Radio.

Jane Pratt
Born (1962-11-11) November 11, 1962
San Francisco, California
Alma materOberlin College
OccupationMagazine editor, publisher
Spouse(s)Andrew Shaifer
Children1

Early life

Jane Pratt was born in San Francisco, California, to Sheila Marks Blake, an artist, and Vernon Pratt, a minimalist painter and professor of art at Duke University.[3][4] Her mother grew up in Queens, New York, and her maternal grandfather, Joseph Marks, was a vice-president of the Doubleday publishing company.[4] Her paternal grandfather was Gaither Pratt, a paranormal psychology researcher at the University of Virginia.[3] Pratt's parents were divorced when she was 13.

She was raised in Durham, North Carolina, and attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, at the age of 15. After graduating from Phillips Academy, Pratt enrolled at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, where she received a degree in communications with a minor in modern dance. Her publishing career began with internships at Rolling Stone magazine and Sportstyle, a Fairchild Publication. After graduating, Pratt landed her first job as assistant editor of McCall's, and in 1986, became an associate editor of Teenage Magazine. From there, she went on to found Sassy Magazine.

Career

Sassy
Main article: Sassy

At the age of 24, Pratt became the founding editor of Sassy, a magazine for teenage girls. Under Pratt, the magazine experienced rapid circulation growth. The magazine released a limited-edition Sonic Youth flexi-disc (a cover of the New York Dolls "Personality Crisis").[5] Band members Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon were fans of the teen magazine.[6]

The magazine's affinity for indie rock led to the formation of the band Chia Pet, which counted Sassy writer Christina Kelly and Pratt as members.[7] Chia Pet released "Blind Date" on the Kokopop label in 1992, which won simultaneous Single of the Week honors in both NME and Melody Maker.[7]

Television and books

The success of Sassy led Pratt to host a talk show on Fox in 1992, however, it was cancelled after only 13 weeks.[8] The show moved to Lifetime in 1993 but only lasted 12 weeks due to low ratings.[9]

Pratt was also a frequent contributor to VH-1 and Extra, where she was featured interviewing such personalities as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., and Drew Barrymore.

Pratt is the author of two books, For Real: The Uncensored Truth About America's Teenagers (Hyperion, September 1995) and Beyond Beauty: Girls Speak Out on Looks, Style and Stereotypes, which is published by Callaway Editions in association with Clarkson Potter.

Jane
Main article: Jane

After Sassy was bought by Los Angeles–based Peterson Publishing in 1994, the New York–based Pratt regrouped with several former Sassy staffers to form Jane, a lifestyle magazine for 18- to 34-year-old women which debuted three years later. Its first cover featured actress Drew Barrymore. Other colleagues have included singer Michael Stipe, whom she dated; director Spike Jonze, whom she hired as editor of short-lived teenage boy–targeted Dirt magazine; actress Chloë Sevigny, who was once a summer intern at Sassy; and Pamela Anderson, who wrote a regular monthly column for Jane.

Jane was nominated for a National Magazine Award for General Excellence by the American Society of Magazine Editors, and Pratt was named "Editor of the Year" in 2002 by Adweek.

On July 25, 2005, Pratt announced that she was resigning from her position as editor-in-chief of Jane and would be leaving the company on September 30, 2005, exactly eight years after its debut issue. Circulation had steadily increased since the magazine's debut, with 700,000 readers as of the day Pratt announced she would be stepping down.

On July 9, 2007, Charles Townsend, president and CEO of Condé Nast Publications, announced that Jane magazine would cease publication with its August 2007 issue. The magazine's website, janemag.com, was also to be shut down. "This was a very difficult decision for us," Mr. Townsend said. "We worked diligently to make Jane a success. However, we have come to believe that the magazine and website will not fulfill our long-term business expectations."[10]

xoJane
Main article: xoJane

In May 2011, Pratt launched women's lifestyle site called xoJane. Pratt and collaborators describe the site as " ...not snarky, but inclusive and uplifting, while remaining nothing but honest at all times. Like Sassy and Jane before it, xoJane.com is written by a group of women (and some token males) with strong voices, identities, and opinions, many in direct opposition to each other, who are living what they are writing about." According to Forbes, in less than two months from the launch date, xoJane.com established itself as one of the "Top 10 Lifestyle Websites for Women."[11] Pratt served as editor-in-chief with Emily McCombs as executive editor, Mandy Stadtmiller as editor-at-large, and Lesley Kinzel as deputy editor.[12] She launched a British sister site, xojane.co.uk, in June 2012, with Rebecca Holman as editor.[13]

xoJane and xoVain were acquired by Time Inc. from Pratt and SAY Media in 2015.[14] In December 2016, Time indicated that it would be folding xoJane into InStyle, following reports that Pratt was leaving Time and looking for a new owner for her web properties.[15] While a statement from Time said that the site would redirect to InStyle.com, an internal xoJane letter said the site would remain up but no new content would be produced after the end of 2016.[16]

Personal life

Pratt and actor/writer Andrew Shaifer have a daughter, Charlotte Jane (born December 2002). She was pregnant with twins, due in the summer of 2005, but she miscarried both that April.[17]

References
  1. Brodesser-Akner, Taffy (2011-05-29). "The Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  2. Kira Cochrane. "The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  3. Swanson, Carl (August 14, 2012). "Jane Pratt's Perpetual Adolescence: Why She's Still Talking Teen Three Decades After Sassy". New York Magazine. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
  4. Smith, Dinitia (May 25, 1992). "Jane's World! Jane's World!". New York Magazine. Vol. 25 no. 21. p. 65.
  5. "Sonic Youth – Personality Crisis". discogs.com. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  6. Baumgardner, Jennifer; Richards, Amy (2 March 2010). Manifesta [10th Anniversary Edition]: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. Macmillan. p. 144. ISBN 978-0374532307. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  7. Metzger, Richard. "Cute band alert: 'Hey Baby,' little-known punk feminist anthem from Sassy magazine editors". dangerousminds.net. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  8. Russell, George (June 15, 1992). "'Jane': No Fox, but still sassy?". Variety. p. 1.
  9. Robins, J. Max (May 14, 1993). "Jane Pratt's chat gets axed". Daily Variety. p. 43. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  10. "Conde Nast closing down Jane magazine". reuters.com/. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  11. Goudreau, Jenna. "Top 10 Lifestyle Websites for Women". Forbes.com. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  12. "xoJane". xoJane. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
  13. Phoebe-Jane Boyd (2012-07-12). "Media Interview with xoJane UK editor Rebecca Holman - FeaturesExec Media Bulletin". Featuresexec.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-22. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
  14. Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. (2015-10-26). "Time Inc. Acquires Websites Aimed at Women". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  15. Steigrad, Alexandra (December 16, 2016). "Jane Pratt to Exit Time Inc., Shops xo Jane to Vice Media and Others". WWD. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  16. Siegler, Mara (December 19, 2016). "The future of xoJane is 'unsure'". Page Six. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  17. "Jane Pratt miscarries twins". People. 2011-12-17. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
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