The Cork woman who’s landed a VERY Glamour-ous new job
She worked at RTÉ and Newstalk, and took on Trump at CNN .... now Samantha Barry is following in Anna Wintour’s footsteps
IT’S not every day that Anna Wintour is effusive with praise, so when she gives a compliment, the world sits up and listens. And when Ballincollig native Samantha Barry was appointed to one of the top jobs in American magazines – editor-in-chief of Glamour Magazine — the Vogue editrix enthused in a statement: ‘(She is) fearless like so many leaders of the moment. We recognised at once that Sam would be the perfect editor for a new, more ambitious era of Glamour’s future. We cannot wait to see her vision unfold. Sam is Glamour’s first digital-native editor which is to say she arrives from the future rather than the past.’
Condé Nast’s president Bob Sauerberg was equally forthcoming with praise: ‘Samantha’s fluency in connecting with consumers in digital, social and video will give Glamour fans the content they love, and in ways that are most meaningful to them,’ he says.
Certainly, Condé Nast can’t have failed to notice the élan with which Barry helmed the social media output of US news giant CNN. In one particular exchange with Donald Trump, Barry showed true grit. ‘CNN is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent out Nation to the WORLD very poorly,’ tweeted Trump.
Proving she knows how to deal with the volatile president, Barry, under the CNN Communications’ Twitter account, replied: ‘It’s not CNN’s job to represent the US to the world. That’s yours. Our job is to report the news.’
Over at Glamour, the pace will be somewhat different than sparring with
the president, yet Samantha herself is aware that she has rather big shoes to fill. Cindi Leive has vacated the editor’s chair after 16 years at the helm of the woman’s magazine. Yet while she presided over the iconic title, she turned it into a publishing force to be reckoned with.
But it’s thought that 36-year-old Sam’s experience as an executive producer at CNN had given her the edge in the recruitment process. It’s as sure as sign as any that as a publishing behemoth, Condé Nast is finally entering the digital age.
Like many similar publications, Glamour has expanded far beyond its remit as a glossy beauty and fashion bible. The magazine’s website now has more than 11 million unique monthly visitors and some 15 million followers on its social media platforms. The smart money says that Sam’s digitalfirst approach will elevate Glamour’s reach even further. And under Sam’s wing, Glamour as a brand — as opposed to a mere magazine — looks set to grow and grow.
But what is known of the young Irish woman who has snagged one of the top jobs in American media?
It’s certainly been a nosebleed ride to the top since she graduated from UCC in 2002 with a degree in English and Psychology. Yet even during her student days, Samantha showed plenty of promise.
‘I wrote for the University Examiner,’ she said. ‘I did three radio shows on university radio. I just put my hand up and tried stuff,’ she says. ‘It helped me hone my skills and gave me confidence in journalism and made me feel that I could do this. It really started me on the path to working at the BBC.’
After graduating UCC, Barry decamped for Dublin City University (DCU) to start a Master’s in Journalism. Her first post-college gig was reading the news at on 2FM as part of an internship.
‘When you grow up listening to a radio station and the next thing you are on the radio reading the news – ok, it might be at 3 o’clock in the morning but it’s still the news – it’s kind of fun,’ she has said.
Still, she evidently proved her mettle, as a job reporting and producing on Morning Ireland soon followed. The breakneck pace of radio suited the young graduate.
‘I was always fascinated by radio,’ she has said. ‘When I became a lunchtime reporter with Newstalk, I got to report on breaking news so I needed to learn how to turn news around really fast.’
Like many twentysomethings before her, Samantha took a year out to travel through Australia. Returning home, she landed a job at Newstalk radio as a reporter, but the travel bug had very much bitten. And when the opportunity arose to train young reporters with ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) in Papua New Guinea, she leapt at the chance.
While working as a reporter for ABC in early 2011, Sam had a near-miss when she was the victim of a carjacking at gun point in Papua New Guinea.
Speaking at the time about the incident she said: ‘Obviously what was going through my head was, “Kidnapping – there have been cases of that here and rape”.
‘When someone has a gun, you instantly obey what they say so I got out of the car. The first thing you need to do in that situation is to distance yourself from the car and not make eye contact and I did that. I had my phone with me and one of the gunmen came over and put the gun to my head and said he wanted the phone.’
Bloodied but unbowed, Samantha went to Pakistan for a brief stint, before being offered a job at the BBC in London.
She had clearly made an impact far beyond the reaches of the Beeb: In 2014, she was then headhunted from BBC World News in London to CNN’s social media division. Her ambition did not go unnoticed.
‘CNN was always about innovation: 24 hours a day on TV, on apps and on mobile
‘You have to be tough and competitive to survive in New York but I am tough and competitive’
web,’ she said. ‘I just wanted to make sure that this was sustained on social (media). Now we have 24/7 global publishing around the clock.’
Samantha joined CNN in 2014 at a rather fortuitous time; the frenzy surrounding the race for the White House was beginning to heat up.
She famously interviewed Donald Trump in a toilet in Miami during the 2016 presidential election — although she has clarified that her Snapchat interview with him took place in a toilet because that was the only place they could set up on the day. In any case, CNN’s output went viral and trended on social media, time and time again.
With Barry’s help, CNN has shifted from being simply a news network to a global, multi-platform media behemoth. And, much like the indefatigable Wintour, Barry’s working days also start at 5.30am or 6am. By night, the West Chelsea-based redhead is likely to be found socialising at the Hudson Hound, The Polo Bar cocktail lounge and prestigious club Soho House, of which she is a member.
Her Instagram, too, is a whirlwind of unbridled glamour and enviable moments, taking in not just trips to the Napa Valley and Lake Como, but hangouts with journalist Ronan Farrow and make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury.
‘I’ve massively embraced the New York way of life, which is to order everything. It’s a rare privilege to cook dinner,’ she told her UCC alumnus publication.
Samantha’s life in New York is already glamorous enough to befit a powerful fashion maven. Wintour and Barry have been spotted together for several years at fashion shows and events. While most of us can only gawk at pictures online, Sam is front row. Wintour even invited her pal ‘Sam’ to the British Consulate General in New York to witness her being ordained as a dame. Additionally, Samantha has already made several cameos in Vogue magazine.
According to reports, the two share a close friend in Amal Clooney. And Sam was a guest at Amal’s 2014 wedding to George Clooney in Venice, rubbing shoulders alongside Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock. Papped sharing a water taxi with actor Bill Murray, it was assumed that the glamorous Barry was his date, but it transpired later that the two are just friends. According to a source, Samantha later told friends that ‘Bill Murray is a brilliant wingman’. A year later, when Amal and George celebrated their first wedding anniversary with a sushi date in Los Angeles, Barry was also in tow.
Yet as a city, New York has evidently captured Samantha’s heart.
‘It doesn’t get old — I feel like I’m in a movie sometimes when I’m walking down the street,’ she said. ‘I love the spontaneity of New York. I love that you can call someone and 20 minutes later be having brunch with them. There are a lot of key Irish tech and media players in Manhattan, people like Darragh Hickey, the co-founder of Web Summit, and Laura Whitmore, who comes here a lot.’
Asked about whether she could ever be tempted to move back to Ireland, where her parents Mairead and David are still based (her sister, Davina, is based in Sweden, while her brother, Brendan is in Barcelona), Samantha has said: ‘I love going home, and it’s a big part of who I am, but I don’t see myself working in Ireland again.
‘You have to be tough and competitive to survive in New York but I am tough and competitive. The buzz here gets me up in the morning. My siblings are both living abroad too — we’re a family held together by Skype.’