WHITNEY LEOPARD

Senior Editor

Random House Graphic

■ Years in publishing: 13

■ Favorite book read this year: Fat

Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith

■ What advice would you give to a new-to-publishing you? “Be patient with yourself and take your time. Don’t listen to people when they say publishing slows down, it never does, so you need to find a work/life balance that suits your schedules and needs. Figure out your boundaries early because bad habits are hard to break down the line.”

■ What advice would you give to someone interested in joining the industry

today? Look beyond what your immediate interests are. When I realized that I wanted to pursue editorial, I had wanted to work on adult stories, but my first break was in children’s, and I ended up falling in love with the challenges and nuance that you face when working with books for younger readers. Keep your mind open and if an opportunity arises take it, even if it isn’t what you think you want for yourself at the time. You might end up finding a calling you hadn’t realized was there.

Leopard was nominated by Kiara Valdez, editor at First Second, who describes the nominee as determined, supportive, and generous. “Whit is one of those few comics editors that now has a well-rounded big-picture view of the comics industry since she’s worked both in direct market and trade publishing,” Valdez says. “Considering how siloed the two different parts of the industry are, I think this is a terrific asset.”