This friend, the owner of a restaurant, suggests that Davis put his name up for consideration, but the book publishing executive hesitated.
“And I thought, ‘Sure,’ thought, ‘Well, it won’t work because I don’t have any magazine experience. It just won’t work,'” Davis told CNN Business in a phone interview earlier this month.
“Dawn thinks from 30,000 feet. You’ll see it through the material,” Samuel told CNN Business. “It will change dramatically. It will become dramatically more widespread, and then it will affect the industry and it forces our competitors to see that space. It is necessary.”
Davis is joining Bon Appetit to some extent as an outsider – not only because she is the magazine’s first black female editor-in-chief, but also because she came from Book Publishing World, where she worked for 25 years. But Davis is no food neophyte. She has written and edited books about food, and as an avid home cook, she is known to be on the side of “living to live” rather than “eating to live”. In Bonpit – from employees, advertisers and readers – will that be enough to renew confidence?
“If you can’t see it …”
After graduating from Stanford, Davis began his career on Wall Street. Her job as an analyst at an investment bank was sought and Davis was not considered “soul satisfying.” Despite the long hours, Davis found time to relax by taking cooking classes at the French Cunningham Institute.
“Everyone was on the track of Harvard Business School, and everyone on Wall Street to get these Uber successful jobs – and continued. I just followed this passion of learning to cook and play in the kitchen, and I,” Davis said.
In 1989, he received a scholarship to study literature in Nigeria. Davis said she loved reading books at a young age, but did not know that it was possible to have a career in the book industry as long as she sat next to a book publisher on a flight to Nigeria.
“They say, ‘If you can’t see it, you don’t know you can be it.'” Davis said. “Actually I haven’t met anyone who publishes books.”
But jumping from Wall Street to book publishing was financially risky. Davis said the career change meant she made the leap even after her friends and family questioned her decision to cut her salary in half. But she liked the job so much that at one point she thought, “When I realize how much fun I have, they’ll cut my salary back.”
“Lived to see my monument”
Davis rose from the ranks and worked in some of the world’s most famous publishing houses, including Random House, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. Despite being new to the field, she quickly gained confidence in her ability as an editor.
“I knew I could be an enthusiastic, advocate, a great advocate for any book,” Davis said. “I never doubted that the author would have someone who would have been more enthusiastic, who would have teased more than me and crossed more teens than me and would have edited it only to the Nth degree.”
“We both share an interest in nonfiction cultural works,” Carpe told CNN Business. “Paro. ‘S presence is very good. I liked her minutes with her.”
He recalled that they tried to buy Eric Slozer’s “Fast Food Nation” together but couldn’t find it.
Davis then asked Edward p. Edited books such as Jones’ The Nunnett World and Chris Gardner’s The Pursuit of Happy for Happiness, which turned into a movie starring Will Smith. She has been praised for encouraging black writers and enhancing the stories of marginalized people, which became the center of her own imprint In 37 ink on Simon and Schuster.
“I think a lot of people would say she’s probably a Black Woman in the world of editing. There’s another Black Editor, and I don’t want to ignore her in any way, but Don is tall,” Carp added.
“I think I was alive to see my monument,” Davis said. “I’ve heard this more than once: ‘It’s great for you personally, and it’s great for Condડે Nast, and it’s great for magazines. But it’s a loss for book publishing.’ I’ve been a champion for a long time, especially of black voices and people of color in general. ”
But she can’t deny the role of editor-in-chief in Bon é Petit.
“Always talk about food”
Memories of Davis ’early diet revolve around the family. She remembers going to Mary Kander Lander in Los Angeles with her family – a weekly ritual that meant her mother and aunt could take a break from cooking. She loved the day before Christmas when her aunt would make a gumbo, inviting not only family but also neighbors and friends for fun.
Davis said, “My aunt Stella gave me the joy of selflessness and the joy of selflessness to cook for others.” “I combine food and community and celebration and just stay together.”
Later, Davis, living and working in New York, was exposed to a vibrant restaurant scene. She became a regular customer at the Scandinavian hotspot Aquavit, where she began a lifelong friendship with executive chef, Marcus Samuelson.
“She wasn’t just a regular customer,” Samuel said. “She was like, ‘Why are you doing this? What’s in the food here?’ She had questions about food. ”
Davis said her husband teased her for remembering the specific details of the meal – but not what they discussed while eating. “I’ll say, ‘Oh my God, yeah. You had a pork chop with butter and peeled green beans, and I had …’ In the meantime, I can’t remember anything super, very important.” It’s a funny thing to prefer food. “
Although Bon é Patit Davis has her first job in a magazine, it may not be her first experience in food journalism. He interviewed celebrity chefs, including Edna Lewis and Bobby Fly, from his 1999 book, If You Can Stand the Heat: Tales from Chefs and Rest Rate Returns. Carp said he was not aware of Davis’ love of food but was able to estimate it since he recently got a cookbook for a publishing house.
“No hypothesis”
Chopra said Davis, whom she did not meet but heard about, is a welcome choice.
“I think media is an industry that can be very insulating,” Chopra said. “Don – someone who was such a leader and such a powerhouse in publishing – is coming into the industry with really clear eyes, no hypothesis about how a magazine should be billed or what the front of the book is. I think it will be very inspiring. Be. ”
Davis has been on an audition tour at his new job, fielding questions and comments about the culture and treatment of individuals at Condડે Nast.
“Some of the people I spoke to were people of color who felt they were being listened to, they respect that they have to work clearly there,” Davis said. “But those challenges did not exclude me from this opportunity. Honestly, most American companies of a certain size and a certain length of existence have to do this work.”
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