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Article: Celebrity Profiles: Jane Pratt

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Celebrity Profiles: Jane Pratt

Few people get TV shows in their own names, even fewer get magazines named after them, but Jane Pratt has gotten both.  And just to prove that life isn't fair, she got both before she was 30.

As the Editor-in-Chief of Sassy, Pratt, then 24, redefined expectations of girls' magazines, with articles on issues such as homosexuality and premarital sex written in a style that put the readers in the prose as much as the subjects.  The controversial and popular Sassy propelled Pratt into the spotlight, turning her into the new public voice of youth.  In 1992, Pratt even nabbed her own talk show, Jane, the first talk show aimed specifically at high school girls.  Although the show went the way of many talk shows of the period, Pratt has remained lodged in the consciousness of young female America.  Recently, she started her eponymous magazine, Jane.  Vault Reports caught up with Jane Pratt in New York to talk about female schmoozing, the importance of mentorships, and the usefulness of electronic organizers.

Vault Reports: Do you think that women should have a different approach to building contacts than men?

Pratt: I definitely think that women are more inclined to help other women and to give them a shot.  It's still harder for women in business in a lot of ways.  It's important to me that I hire a lot of bright young women and create opportunities for women.

V R: How do you create opportunities for women?

Pratt: It's been really crucial to me that we have interns at my magazines.  That's helped so much to keep me in touch and grounded ? just in general.  I did a book called Beyond Beauty.  One of the people I featured was a girl that I just met.  She knew Sassy, she was the coolest girl, and she was in New York, so I kind of took her under my wing.  [Actress] Chloe Sevigny started out here, and now she's bigger than all of us.

V R: What is the best way for young women to go about building contacts?

Pratt: The key is to seek out mentors.  Every opportunity I've ever gotten was through a woman.  Like, for example, Geri Laiborne is at Disney, the head of Nickelodeon.  I've always been a huge admirer of hers so I just called her and we talked and talked.  It really helped me, because she's helped me with getting on E! to publicize Jane, and I may be returning to Lifetime TV because of her.  She's also given me lots of terrific business advice.

~ V R: Is it hard to find female mentors?

Pratt: I think women have progressed in my field, publishing.  There are definitely more women in high-ranking positions.  When I started right out of school at McCall's magazine in 1984, all the senior editors were white men.  That has completely changed.  I did find two really great women who helped me tremendously, they helped me in starting Sassy.

V R: Do you act as a mentor to men, as well?

Pratt: I love helping men and giving them a chance, too.  I have a lot of male interns. But I feel particularly strong about helping out women.  Pretty much anything I've done has been focused on women.  I understand them better and I think that makes me better at my job.

V R: What advice would you give to women struggling in a male dominated field?

Pratt: I think you should be true to yourself and be confident in what you know.  The best thing to do is just to hang on to what you know.  You'll exude that confidence.  I find it's good to pick something, like with Sassy and with everything else I've done, that I can be more expert at it than any man.  No matter what they say, you have that going for you.  If you're an expert on something it will always give you more confidence and authority in your interactions with others.

V R: Can someone get in touch with someone they have no business connection with?

Pratt: Sure.  I prefer that they write a letter.