‘People don’t expect a boss to look like me’
meant changing the role and reputation of a beauty and fashion magazine — and challenging expectations of what that magazine’s leadership looks like.
“Young people aren’t expected to be political,” she said. “Women aren’t expected to be fierce leaders. People don’t expect a boss to look like me or wear their hair like mine in corporate spaces.”
She tells a story about sitting in a meeting at Condé Nast shortly after being promoted to editorin-chief at Teen Vogue.
“We sat there waiting and I finally said, ‘Are we waiting for anyone else?’ and the woman next to me said, ‘We’re just waiting for the editor-in-chief to arrive,’ ” Welteroth said. “I said, ‘Great! Let’s get the meeting started!’ ”
I asked her what workplaces need to do to create more space for people from underrepresented groups. It shouldn’t all be on the space-seekers to muscle their way into rooms where they haven’t historically been invited.
“Companies need to hire for their blind spots,” she said. “When we continue to hire people who look like us, who see the world the way we see it, it only reinforces our worldview. We’re incapable of speaking to a diverse world or catering to a diverse customer base. We’re limiting growth, limiting resonance.
“Hiring outside of your culture fit isn’t just a nice thing to do. It’s a business imperative if you intend to stay relevant.”
And not just at the entry level, Welteroth said.
“It’s even more important to hire outside your comfort zone, outside what already fits your culture, in leadership roles because culture trickles down,” she said. “Culture changes from the top down. It’s so much harder to change culture from the bottom up because people who don’t look like everyone else cycle out before they ever make it into managerial roles. There’s no sense of belonging there. There’s no one there to foster a more inclusive culture. There’s no one who looks like them that they can aspire to.”
Welteroth left Condé Nast after a year-and-a-half as Teen Vogue’s editor-inchief. (The company folded the print edition of the magazine.) Since then, she’s written a book, served as a judge on “Project Runway” and written for the sitcom “Grown-ish.”
I asked her what she hopes to be doing at 40.
“I hope to have another book out, a successful TV show that amplifies underrepresented voices, a family of my own,” she said. “That’s my American dream.”
She has goals for the world around her too.
“I hope by the time I’m 40 we aren’t still talking about diversity and inclusion,” she said. “I hope those words feel so utterly outdated and we’re finally living that reality.
“And I hope people stop saying they don’t see race or color. Claiming blindness is not the best solution. I hope people know better than to say they don’t see something that deeply reflects other people’s lived experiences.”
And I hope Welteroth continues to be a beacon of light and guidance for all of us — at 40 and well beyond. I have a good feeling she will.