Ep. 12 — Real Simple Editor- in-Chief Leslie Yazel on Her Journey from Crime Reporter to Conqueror of Clutter

On this week’s Write About Now, I journey to the New York City offices of Real Simple magazine to talk with new Editor-in-Chief Leslie Yazel. Leslie opens up about her impressive career as a writer and editor, which started on the mean streets of Des Moines and continued all the way to the top spot of a major Time Inc. publication. She also gives me a tour of the office, including the legendary fashion closet. I had a secret fantasy that the place would be complete mess with piles of clutter strewn everywhere. Not a chance. Befitting of the magazine’s title, Leslie runs a lean and mean ship.

Prior to helming the SS Real Simple, Leslie was director of editorial content at Cosmo, deputy editor at the Wall Street Journal, and she held senior editorial positions at The Washington Post, Redbook, Maxim, Seventeen. We first met as young, idealistic editors at Glamour magazine, where we both received an invaluable education in the Bonnie Fuller school of grab-em-by-the-lapels journalism.