Amy DuBois Barnett facts for kids

Amy DuBois Barnett is an American magazine editor, born in 1969. She is well-known for being the first African-American woman to lead a major mainstream magazine in the United States. Barnett has been the editor-in-chief of several popular magazines, including Ebony, Honey, and Teen People. She also worked as the deputy editor for Harper's Bazaar. Besides her work in magazines, Amy DuBois Barnett is also an award-winning writer. She has published many short stories and an advice book for women.

Early Life and Education

Amy DuBois Barnett was born in Hyde Park, Chicago. Her parents were Stephen and Marguerite Ross Barnett. Her mother was the first Black woman to lead a major research university. Amy went to Brown University for her college studies. There, she joined the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She studied French and political science at Brown.

After college, she briefly worked in finance. Then, she studied fashion merchandising at Parsons. She worked at Lord & Taylor, a department store. Later, she moved to Ireland to study writing and literature at University College Dublin. She then earned a master's degree in creative writing from Columbia University.

Career in Magazines

While studying at Columbia University, Amy DuBois Barnett wrote for a website called Fashion Planet. This website later became a magazine called Fashion Almanac. This experience sparked her interest in journalism. She soon became the managing editor for Fashion Almanac.

After getting her master's degree, Barnett worked as a lifestyle editor at Essence magazine. In 2000, she became the editor-in-chief of Honey magazine. In 2003, she joined Time Inc. and became the managing editor of Teen People. This made her the first African-American editor-in-chief of a major consumer magazine.

She then became the deputy editor of Harper’s Bazaar. In 2010, she joined Ebony as its editor-in-chief. While at Ebony, Barnett led the magazine's first redesign in 66 years. This was a big change for the historic magazine. In 2011, she joined the board of the American Society of Magazine Editors. She served on the board for three terms.

For her work at Ebony and other magazines, Barnett received many awards. In 2012, she won eight Salute to Excellence Awards. She was also named Media Executive of the Year by Target Market News in 2012. Amy DuBois Barnett left Ebony in April 2014. After that, she became an executive editor for The Undefeated. This was an ESPN website focusing on African-American sports and culture. In 2017, Barnett joined TheGrio as an executive vice president. In 2019, she moved to BET as a senior vice president.

Books and Writings

Amy DuBois Barnett has written a book and several short stories.

• Get Yours! How to Have Everything You Ever Dreamed of and More (Random House), 2007

Her short stories have appeared in different publications:

• "Do Not Uncover Buried Things" in Obsidian III, 1999
• "Mirror Image" in Gumbo: A Celebration of African American Writing, 2002
• "What Are You, Anyway?" in The Brown Reader: 50 Writers Remember College Hill, 2014