“I’m absolutely thrilled. This truly is my dream job. I’ve lovedEssence since I was a kid,” Vanessa Bush, the new editor-in-chief ofEssence, told theGrio.
The new head of the black women’s lifestyle bible has worked for numerous publications over the course of her career, including Life and Glamour, but none other has drawn her passionate devotion.
In her new role, Bush is thrilled to take her decade-plus years of experience in journalism and apply it in service to African-American women, at a magazine that inspired her both as a black woman and budding journalist as a child.
She even remembers her first encounter with the glossy.
“It’s something that I will never forget. I can remember creating mini-magazines with my mom,” Bush reminisced. “One of the few places where I could actually cut out pictures of women who look like me was Essence magazine. So to be able to bring that full circle decades later is just a dream. Essence is the embodiment of the quintessential black woman who is empowered and that’s an achiever, that’s looking for inspiration, that’s looking for wise counsel. That’s always trying to be the best that she can be. Essence has always been that guide book that shows us how to do that.”
Click here to check out her backstory and to find out what challenges she faces on TheGrio.com.
Leave a Reply