Leda Sanford
| Leda Sanford | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Leda Giovannetti October 11, 1933 Pieve Fosciana, Lucca, Italy |
| Alma mater | Fashion Institute of Technology (B.S.) |
| Occupation | Author, Speaker |
Leda Sanford, (born October 11, 1933, in Lucca, Italy), is an author, speaker, former publisher, and advertising director. She was the first female publisher of a major national magazine. She became president, publisher and editor-in-chief of the magazine American Home and the American Home Publishing Company in 1975.
Throughout her career, Sanford had publisher and director stints at several national magazines. She eventually focused her work on aging, which includes the publication of her collection of essays Look For the Moon in the Morning.
In 2010 she published a memoir, Pure Moxie, which focuses on her professional career.
When Sanford became president of the American Home Publishing Company, the company had recently been acquired by the Charter Company, headed by Raymond K. Mason. New York Times columnist Philip H. Dougherty reported in his “Advertising” column that Sanford had little experience in magazine publishing. Before her American Home installation, Sanford had been a design major at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She had served as editor of the trade publication Teens & Boys Outfitter for three years and also was editor of the publication Mens Wear for three years.
At American Home, Sanford led a controversial feminism-driven repositioning. Sanford replaced roughly half of the American Home staff (newspapers said she had started to “clean house”). The goal was to appeal to newly liberated women and save the magazine, which the Los Angeles Times reported as “financially ailing.”
American Home reported slight gains in 1976, but in 1977 the Charter Company announced the magazine would be combined into its magazine Redbook.
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