Jane Pratt
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| Jane Pratt | |
| Born | November 11, 1962 San Francisco, California |
|---|---|
Jane Pratt (born November 11, 1962) is the founding editor of Sassy and Jane. She currently hosts the talk show, Jane Radio on Sirius XM Radio.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Pratt was raised in Durham, North Carolina. At 15, she attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. After Phillips, Pratt went to Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, where she received a degree in Communications with a minor in Modern dance. Her publishing career began with internships at Rolling Stone magazine and Sportstyle, a Fairchild Publication. After graduating, Pratt landed her first job as assistant editor of McCall's and in 1986, became an associate editor of Teenage Magazine, from there she went on to found Sassy.
[edit] Sassy
At the age of 24, Pratt became the founding editor of Sassy, a magazine for teenage girls. Under Pratt, the magazine experienced rapid circulation growth. The magazine's hipness factor increased dramatically when it issued a limited-edition Sonic Youth flexi-disc (a cover of the New York Dolls "Personality Crisis") and it became known that band members Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon were fans of the teen magazine.
The magazine's affinity for indie rock led to the formation of the band Chia Pet, which counted Sassy writer Christina Kelly and Pratt as members. Chia Pet released "Blind Date" on the Kokopop label in 1992, which won simultaneous Single of the Week honors in both NME and Melody Maker.
[edit] Television and books
The success of Sassy led Pratt to host talk shows on Fox and Lifetime, respectively, neither of which was successful. Pratt was also a frequent contributor to VH-1 and Extra, where she was featured interviewing such personalities as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., and Drew Barrymore.
Pratt is the author of two books, For Real: The Uncensored Truth About America's Teenagers (Hyperion, September 1995) and Beyond Beauty: Girls Speak Out on Looks, Style and Stereotypes, which is published by Callaway Editions in association with Clarkson Potter.
[edit] Jane
After Sassy was bought by Los Angeles-based Peterson Publishing in 1994, the Greenwich Village, New York-based Pratt regrouped with several former Sassy staffers to form Jane magazine, a lifestyle magazine for 18–34 year old women which debuted three years later. Its first cover featured actress Drew Barrymore, whom Pratt dated. Other colleagues have included singer Michael Stipe, whom she dated; director Spike Jonze, whom she hired as editor of short-lived teenage-boy-targeted Dirt magazine; actor Chloë Sevigny, who was once a summer intern at Sassy; and Pamela Anderson, who wrote a regular monthly column for Jane.
Jane was nominated for a National Magazine Award for General Excellence by the American Society of Magazine Editors, and Pratt was named "Editor of the Year" in 2002 by Adweek Magazine.
On July 25, 2005, Pratt announced that she was resigning from her position as editor-in-chief of Jane and would be leaving the company on September 30, 2005, exactly eight years after its debut issue. Circulation had steadily increased since the magazine's debut, with 700,000 readers as of the day Pratt announced she would be stepping down.
On July 9, 2007, Charles H. Townsend, President and CEO of Condé Nast Publications, announced that Jane magazine would cease publication with its August 2007 issue. The magazine's website, www.janemag.com, was also to be shut down. "This was a very difficult decision for us," Mr. Townsend said. "We worked diligently to make Jane a success. However, we have come to believe that the magazine and website will not fulfill our long-term business expectations."[citation needed]
[edit] Personal life
Pratt and her partner, actor and writer Andrew Shaifer, have a daughter, Charlotte Jane (born December 2003). Jane Pratt was pregnant with twin daughters, due in the summer of 2005, when she miscarried both in April 2005.[1] In March 2007, Pratt revealed on her Sirius Satellite Radio show that, in the early 1990s, she had an affair with Drew Barrymore. Barrymore appeared on the cover of the debut issue of Jane magazine in 1997.[2]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Jane Radio - official site of the show
- "Jane Tells All!"
- Jane Pratt interview in Time Out New York
