Achievement Award Winners: Trish Halpin and Lorraine Candy
WOTC’s Achievement Award recipients Trish Halpin and Lorraine Candy are every bit of the word awe-inspiring, having left their mark within the reigns of media and publishing. The influence as an editor is undeniable, and between themselves, they’ve edited over five of the globe’s most notable publications from Red, to Elle, to Marie Claire, to Sunday Times Style, guiding millions of women and demonstrating their sharp eye for detail – perhaps with a little controversy; their hands heavily laden on campaigns that mattered, from Theirworld Charity to inequality.
Now, co-hosts of the Postcards From Midlife podcast, authors, and mothers, the duo talk about life after editing and why they’re refusing to be silenced.
Halpin and Candy were no strangers to glossy front covers, having placed hundreds of the biggest supermodels and celebrities on them, but this time ‘round, all eyes were on them. They were the ones in the limelight, on set, taking the direction and smiling for the camera, whose lens so happened to be owned by Halpin’s husband; none other than renowned photographer Neil Cooper, responsible for iconic shots of The Spice Girls and Daniel Craig.
In the midst of it all, I had to know just one thing; how it felt being on the other side of the glory.
Trish: Well, [I’m] very excited because we've produced hundreds and hundreds of covers ourselves over the years, but we've never actually been on any — apart from when you leave a magazine, and a cover is done for you by the team, (chuckles). Other than that, I don't think I've been on a magazine cover. Have you, Lorraine?
Lorraine: Saturday Times magazine.
Trish: So, you're used to it?
Lorraine: Yes. Sorry, I'm used to this. It's my third one (chuckles).
Phadria: (Chuckles) I think, when you’re the editor, the readers really get to know you each month by your editor’s letter, but outside of that, they don’t get to see the person behind it all; the person who makes it all happen.
Trish: Yes, that's true, but I think having edited glossy’s for so many years, you do become the face of the brand — certainly within the fashion and beauty industries, because you're always out there representing your brand. You might be photographed for other features in the media or have interviews in newspapers, so I suppose to a certain extent, a small portion of our job was about being outward-facing. But obviously, as you say, a lot of it is about rolling up your sleeves and actually producing the magazines.
Lorraine: I think for us, it's just great to be able to talk to our readers continually. Between us, we've edited Red, Elle, Marie Claire, Sunday Times Style and Cosmopolitan. So that's a huge chunk of women who have grown with us. They've aged with us. So, it's good to be talking to them from the front of the magazine at this stage of our lives, but I think Trish is right too. I always felt I embodied Elle. I felt like I was that woman, and I did many cover interviews. If you invest in a magazine, you invest in the editor, so from our point of view, we were very much pivotal to the brands that we were working with, both online and in print.
Phadria: And what was the message for you both being at the helm of such influential publications?
Trish: Every magazine has something unique about them, and as you move as editor between them, your job is to really understand the DNA of the magazine, but modernise it. You've always got to stay true to the DNA of the magazine as an editor.
Lorraine: I think the main thing that we've noticed over the years is that our job is to give women a voice. So, editing Elle or Cosmopolitan – those are two very different kinds of women buying a magazine, for different reasons. One is buying it for fashion, and the other is buying it for relationships. For both those women, we were trying to give them a voice in something they felt very close to, which is exactly what we're doing with Postcards from Midlife. We're trying to create a community of women by giving them the content that really resonates with them; that's really part of their lives. When I worked for Cosmopolitan, we did huge campaigns around date rape and around gender equality in the workplace. When I worked for Elle, we had four feminism issues a year, and we worked with the UN and UN women. So from our point of view, I think you could look at both our careers and see; particularly when Trish was at Marie Claire, that we are campaigners for giving women a voice. We very much took that feeling into the podcast world when we realised that audio was the next space. We're trying to give those women a voice because there is so much misinformation about how women age and what is available in terms of medical and emotional support.
Phadria: Absolutely, and you mentioned something quite powerful about giving women a voice. What does sending the ladder down mean to you both, and how have you done so?
Trish: We always want to make whatever we do feel like this it’s an inclusive place for women; that it's a safe space for women to be recognised and to be seen. Especially in the midlife space, you suddenly disappear off the radar in terms of media, but we’re saying we refuse not to be seen. So, I suppose that's one way, but the other way is that for most of my career, which is nearly thirty years, I managed large teams of predominantly women, which was quite unusual. It was absolutely wonderful to be able to bring young women along through their careers. I've had women who worked with me from their twenties right through to their forties, moving up through their own career ladder journey. So, I think it's about doing what we do and talking the talk, but also walking the walk.
Lorraine: And I think it's really important to look back on your career and see where you've dropped the ladder. Last week, Kenya Hunt was announced as the new editor of Elle. I brought Kenya into Elle, so for me to watch her grow as a woman and edit the magazine is amazing. One of the reasons I employed Kenya was that I knew she would drop the ladder. I knew she would be there for other women. I knew she had a particular interest in making sure black and brown women were represented across all media, and I think behind you, you have to look at women who are going to be very capable of doing that kind of thing. I think someone like Kenya is a real testament to the industry. She brings a real elegance and charm to what's coming next.
What Trish and I have always tried to do is learn from below. We're really big believers in what I call reverse mentoring. I think sometimes younger women really know much more than you, and you can't be what you can't see. So, you need those women around you, to tell you where to put the women that are role models for other people. You will look around in midlife, and there are very few brilliant, positive role models for midlife women, and there's been such a narrative that we are not as valuable to society. That women of all backgrounds in midlife are slightly invisible, or that they have ‘lost their use’ and that can't really continue, because we are the fastest-growing sector of the workforce for women over fifty at the moment. We're very skilled, we have a lot more time, are very experienced, and the idea of what an older woman is, has to be more visible for younger women. We're really hoping that all the information we put out there means that they [the next generation], will be much more inclusive than our generation.
Phadria: Absolutely, and you said quite a few key things that I want to go back to. I definitely stand by learning from those younger than you. They can bring on board fresh ideas; they can see things that you can't see. I think it would also be quite naïve and prideful to think that – especially in media where things are always moving and changing all the time, that you don’t need to seek the advice of those around you. I also wanted to touch on Kenya. You mentioned that you were the one that brought her on. I really want to hear that story.
Lorraine: She's amazing. She was working at the Guardian, and she had a really, really deep interest in fashion, and I think she was very believable in her love and passion for fashion. I think she's worked very hard, and the thing about Kenya is, she will open doors and always be receptive to other women from all backgrounds, and I think that's really important.
Phadria: Definitely, and Trish, you brought on Marie Claire Runway? Tell me about that!
Trish: Yes, so that was a biannual fashion catwalk magazine. I can't remember what year it was now that we launched it, but it was in response to creating a bi-annual coffee table magazine, that encapsulated all the trends, all the key runway looks and reflected that growing passion for fashion that women had. Also, it was almost like a little antidote to digital, in terms of women wanting a glossy, luxe coffee table magazine. It ran for about five or six years as a bi-annual.
Phadria: Now, let’s talk about change. What was that transition like from being revered magazine editors?
Trish: It was tough because I'd come out of this incredible world that I'd worked in for my entire career, which was more than twenty five years. I hadn't realised it would take some adjusting, or that it was going to take a bit of time to settle down. It's really hard because I think when you're used to going at 100 miles an hour all the time, you can't just suddenly stop. At that point, we’d already come up with the idea of doing the podcast, and it was going to be a side hustle for us. It was just something that we really wanted to do because we wanted to get this message out there about midlife, the challenges and opportunities for women at this life stage. So that was bubbling away, but I didn't really know what else I would be doing. Lorraine, was that similar for you, do you think?
Lorraine: I think so. I was editing Sunday Times Style, and I'd been there for three years. It's a weekly glossy, and I think there were a lot of changes in print, which made it a different place to work. Both Trish and I felt that. Then we started the podcast with News UK and Wireless radio at the beginning, because we were in the same building. They had the studios, and they wanted to back a female podcast, but we soon realised it had a life of its own and that we wanted to be in charge of the content. We wanted to be able to reach a maximum audience rather than being tied to News UK titles. We wanted coverage across everything.
I was also writing a weekly parenting column in the Sunday Times magazine, and I was writing a book. So, between a podcast, a weekly, a book deal and the column, there was no give, really.
Phadria: Wow! And let’s take it back a little to the height of your careers. How did you manage it all, as mothers and leading editors at the same time?
Trish: I'm quite an organised person, and I'm all about the to-do list; otherwise, I find myself lying awake at night thinking, “Oh, I've got this to do or that to do.” For me, routines and habits are really important, but the problem with habits are that you've got to make sure that you're not just doing them for the sake of doing them and that they are serving you. I'm quite a creature of habit (chuckles), but it’s something I worked out to be able to manage it all; otherwise, you can be overwhelmed.
I like to plan out my days and allow for things to happen, because you never know. That was the joy of being in the magazine world. You had a rough structure to your day, but then things happened. Things come up. I think especially when you're managing a team, if your team is running well, your life is much easier.
I invested a lot of time in my team. I communicated with them, ensuring that they knew what the goals were for that particular issue or that particular week. It’s about clear communication both ways — from your team to you, and from you to your team.
Lorraine: I think the one thing that I always say is, you cannot be liked by everybody. You cannot structure your day to please everyone. You just need to simply ask yourself, “Am I doing the best I possibly can?” Most women in positions of power are doing the best they can and are working as hard as they can. Ask yourself, “Is it serving me well? Am I getting the breaks that I need to power up again?” I think if you work in a creative field, you need space outside of what you're actually doing, particularly if you work on a magazine, because you need to have ideas. You can't just keep doing the same thing every month. Exercise is also incredibly important.
I'm pretty organised, but I like a lot of change, and I like a lot of chaos, and I like to be in the thick of lots of things happening at different paces, at different times.
I’d also say never send an email until you've read it through, and never get engaged in the drama. It doesn't serve anybody well.