Michele Promaulayko
Executive Editor, Cosmopolitan Magazine

Read Michele Promaulayko's Honor Society Induction Address, May 2006


Cosmo Girl Tells All
by Amy Vames, Rutgers Magazine

As executive editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, Michele Promaulayko has interviewed celebrities such as Matthew McConaughey and Josh Duhamel. She attends movie screenings and gets to test-run many of the beauty products featured in the magazine. But the job is anything but non-stop glamour, she says. "I spend the majority of my time planted in my chair at the computer," she adds with a laugh.

Still, Promaulayko loves her job at Cosmo. A voracious reader of magazines, she knew in college that she wanted to work in the fast-paced publishing world. And as a psychology minor, she liked how women's magazines deftly blend celebrity, fashion, and the social sciences. "We interview a huge number of experts—sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists—about how men and women are hardwired, and about relationship dynamics," Promaulayko says of Cosmo. "So I'm in the magazine industry, but I also get to dabble in that psychological terrain. I ended up with the best of both worlds."

Promaulayko, who grew up in Bridgewater, started at Cosmo in 1999 as a deputy articles editor, and less than a year later was named to her current position. Before that she worked as an editor at YM and Teen People, and had several magazine internships while at Rutgers. Promaulayko credits her quick rise through the ranks to her work ethic and her boss, Cosmo Editor in Chief Kate White. "She gave me this huge opportunity when I was still a little green," says Promaulayko. "Hopefully she feels it's a gamble that's paid off."

In addition to planning issues and editing stories, Promaulayko and White have intense sessions every month to write the magazine's iconic and often provocative cover lines, such as "4 Surprising Things Guys Find Hot" and "His Lips, His Eyes: How They Reveal What He Can't Express" (and those are some of the tamer ones). "The cover is not something that's just slapped together," says Promaulayko. "The lines are carefully crafted, but we have a lot of fun doing them. Kate always says our job isn't done until we're throwing back our heads with laughter."

Those famous cover lines also contribute to Cosmo's bottom line. It is the best-selling magazine in the United States and in much of the world, with more than 50 foreign editions. About two-thirds of Cosmo's sales are at the newsstand, so a knock-your-socks-off cover is key to grabbing readers. "If you don't entice a reader to pick up the magazine, she's not going to know you have a great product," says Promaulayko. "And once she takes the bait, you have to deliver on your promises."

Promaulayko recently spoke to a group of School of Communication, Information and Library Studies honor society inductees about the magazine business and how today's magazines can successfully compete with today's multitude of information sources. "At Cosmo, one way we've addressed the thirst for immediate information is by creating more entry points into an article," she told the group. "Now, in addition to sidebars, we have what we call baby boxes and more blown-up pull quotes. All those things provide places where readers can get traction on a story, and they make the page more graphic and inviting."

And where do Cosmo's editors get their ideas? "Anywhere and everywhere," Promaulayko says. "It might be a celebrity trend, a medical study, or a conversation younger staffers have with friends." Always, though, the magazine aims for 18- to 34-year-old single women; "fun, fearless females," as the magazine's motto puts it. "The Cosmo reader is on a search for her soul mate but in the interim she's living life to the fullest," says Promaulayko. "She has career ambitions and a thriving social life. I'd say she's a pretty well-rounded chick."

Cosmopolitan wasn't always the single woman's bible. It was founded in 1886 as a literary magazine but underwent a dramatic facelift when Helen Gurley Brown took it over in 1965, just as the women's movement was moving into high gear. (Brown, at 84, still works in Cosmo's international division.)

Although sometimes criticized by feminists for championing women's style over substance, Cosmo is also credited with contributing to the sexual revolution and helping women feel more comfortable with their own bodies and sexuality. "Readers turn to Cosmo for candid information. They write to us and we take what they say seriously and reflect it back to them. Young women embrace their sexuality—it isn't something they're embarrassed about, really. Any woman in a quest for healthy relationships is hungry for the kind of advice we provide."