Who

Cindi Leive has been editor-in-chief of Glamour since 2001.

Backstory

A Swarthmore grad who grew up in Virginia with her scientist mother, Leive claims to have had no interest in fashion journalism in college, interning instead at tweedy titles like The Paris Review and The Saturday Review. Nevertheless, after graduating she took a job as an editorial assistant at Glamour, where she stayed for 11 years and worked her way up to deputy editor, before being named editor of Condé Nast stablemate Self. She took over at Glamour in May 2001, when Bonnie Fuller was kicked to the curb.

Of note

Since taking over the mag, Leive has boosted circulation and done her best to maintain it with brand extensions such as an annual awards show and TV program. But like competitor Marie Claire, Glamour has become increasingly schizophrenic in its content and editorial stances, combining the usual trite beauty and dating advice with pseudo-heavyweight articles, such as an interview with Michelle Obama and an Eve Ensler-penned report on the rape crisis in the Congo. Leive is also struggling, along with most glossy magazine editors, to hit the right note in the "size zero" debate: Glamour has trumpeted coverlines like March '07's "Sexy At Any Size!" followed by Leive's editor's letter exhorting readers to embrace their natural figures—only to have October '07's cover feature Ugly Betty star America Ferrera's body photoshopped down to practically half its actual size. The added irony? A headline on Ferrera's shoulder announcing the "1st Annual Figure Flattery Issue!"

For the record

Her last name is pronounced like "levee," as in the dam that runs along the banks of a river.

Personal

Leive lives with her husband, film producer Howard Bernstein. (He produced David Wain and Michael Showalter's Wet Hot American Summer.) They have two kids, Lucy and Isaac, and live in a Brooklyn Heights townhouse they extensively restored in 2006.

No joke

Rumor has it that when Leive was handed the top job at Glamour, Condé Nast execs decided she didn't look quite glamorous enough to lead the mag. The solution? They immediately ordered a makeover.