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Essence is the first monthly magazine for African-American women between the ages of 18 and 49, and has become a cultural institution in the African-American community. The magazine covers fashion, lifestyle and beauty with an intimate girlfriend-to-girlfriend tone.
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History
The magazine was founded in 1968 by Edward Lewis, Clarence O. Smith, Cecil Hollingsworth, Jonathan Blount, and Denise M. Clark. Essence Communications Inc. (ECI) began publishing in May 1970. Its circulation began at approximately 50,000 copies per month, subsequently growing to roughly 1.1 million. Photographer, Filmmaker, Author Gordon Parks served as its editorial director during the first three years of its circulation.
Susan L. Taylor was the editor in chief for 19 years (81-00) and then publications director for 7 years. She retired on 28 Dec 2007 to focus on her national Cares Mentoring Movement non-profit organization.[1][2]
In 2000, Time Inc. purchased 49 percent of the magazine from its original publisher, Essence Communications Inc. By March 2005, Time Inc. became the majority owner, buying the remaining 51 percent in a deal reported to be worth US$170 million. In 2008, Essence won 12 New York Association of Black Journalists awards in the Investigative, General Feature, International, Business/Technology, Science/Health, Arts and Entertainment, Personal Commentary, Public Affairs and Online categories.
For 38 years, the company has flourished and expanded beyond pages of its magazine to generate brand extensions such as the Essence Music Festival, Women Who Are Shaping the World Leadership Summit, Window on Our Women (WOW I, II & III) and Smart Beauty I, II & III consumer insights, the Essence Book Club, Essence.com, and ventures in digital media (mobile, television and VOD) via Essence Studios.
Contents
There are sections such as Work and Wealth, Healthy Living, and Looks We Love that cover topics that focus on career, finance, health, lifestyle, fashion, and beauty which share an intimate connection with readers.
Essence surrounds advertisers with strategic solutions to reaching African-American women via multiple touch points.
- Magazines
The Team
- President, Michelle Ebanks
- Ebanks joined the Essence family in March 2001 as a group publisher. Before joining Essence, Ebanks was vice-president in Time Inc.’s corporate division.
- Editor-in-Chief, Angela Burt-Murray
- Burt-Murray joined the Essence family in 2005. Burt-Murray has updated the magazine’s look to a vibrant and modern design, and created new sections to reach the younger audience.
- Arts and Entertainment, Cori Murray
- This section accepts ideas for celebrity profiles as well as reviews of the arts, music, TV, film and the web.
- Books Editor, Patrik Henry Bass
- This section accepts queries and manuscripts for review.
- Fashion and Beauty, Pamela Edwards
- Fashion and Beauty section accepts queries for trend and news pieces.
- Food, Jonell Nash
- This section accepts queries for food essays.
- Health and Relationships, Lynya Floyd
- This section accepts queries for first-person essays, health news and trend reports, and health, sex and relationships features.
- My Testimony, Rosemarie Robotham
- This section accepts queries for first-person essays that explore some aspect of your emotional life, relationships or culture.
- News, Tatsha Robertson
- This section accepts queries for opinion pieces, profiles of people in the news and reported pieces on current events.
- Poetry, Cynthia Gordy
- This section accepts published and unpublished works.
- Work and Wealth, Tanisha Sykes
- This section accepts queries for personal finance and career articles and feature stories.
Consumer Insights
Windows on Our Women (WOW)
WOW is a series of studies that reveal insights about African-American women. The results give marketers the information they need to reach this consumer segment. The studies compare African-American and General Market women’s similarities and differences. Topics include data on how women define success, how women use technology, and other relevant topics.
Smart Style
Smart Style is a provocative study on African-American women’s love affair with style and how she uses her financial impact in the fashion world. This study uncovers the attitudes, behavior and shopping habits regarding style and fashion and how she differs from General Market women.
Smart Beauty
Smart Beauty is a series of events and studies that examine the beauty and fragrance retail experience. Here there is information about beauty marketing myths, exploring how African-American spend their beauty dollars and uncovering the impact and importance of language and images in advertising.
Internship
Essence Communications Inc. Summer Internship Program is a 9-week paid learning process where you will receive on the job training that will enhance your education and begin to prepare you for your future career. As of September 2008, Essence is looking for senior graduate level or students who have recently graduated. You must have an appreciation for the magazine industry, be self-motivated and detail oriented. There are positions available in the Publishing and Editorial departments.
Circulation
- Rate Base 1,050,000
- Subscriptions 78%
- Publisher’s Suggested Price $22.00/12 issues
- Single-Copy Sales 22%
- Cover Price $3.99
Essence Music Festival
The Essence Music Festival is the nation’s largest annual gathering of African-American musical talent. The festival is a three day event, which has cultural celebrations and empowerment seminars with nights of musical performances. The festival is held every Fourth of July weekend, and has featured some of the biggest names in entertainment including Prince, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Lionel Richie, Chris Brown and others. The festival brings more than 200,000 attendees to New Orleans.
In 2007, presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton made special appearances at the Music Festival. In 2008, after partnering with Essence to develop and tape a cobranded special presentation Black in America: Reclaiming the Dream, CNN reported live on-site throughout the Music Festival weekend.
The Music Festival will celebrate its 15th anniversary in New Orleans on July 3, 4, and 5, 2009.
Essence Literary Awards
Essence magazine hosted the first-annual Essence Literary Awards in New York City on 7 February, 2008. The awards were created to celebrate both emerging and established African-American authors.
There are nine categories: Fiction, Memoir, Inspiration, Non-fiction, Current Affairs, Photography, Children’s Books, Poetry and Storyteller of the Year.
The first-annual Essence Literary Awards was co-hosted by “Today” show co-anchor Hoda Kotb and Dr. Ian Smith of VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club.”
The Essence Literary Awards also will kick off the magazine’s “Save Our Libraries” campaign to benefit the Countee Cullen Regional Library in Harlem, which is a branch of the New York City Public Library system.
Essence.com
Essence.com: Your Voice. Your Style. Your Life. is an expansive web destination aimed to be the ultimate online destination for African-American women. The site serves as the daily source for African American related news, entertainment and community, and reflects the intimate tone and approach of the esteemed Essence brand. Essence.com has engaging blogs, photo galleries, original video programming, and a substantial online community across four channels that include Beauty & Style; News & Entertainment; Relationships; and Recipes. The new Essence.com launched in September 2008.
References
- ^ http://jezebel.com/338425/susan-l-taylor-the-soul-of-essence-leaves-mag-after-almost-four-decades Soul Of 'Essence' Susan Taylor Steps Down
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/business/media/28mag.html?_r=1&oref=slogin NY Times: Essence Editor Is Leaving Magazine
External links
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