Joanna Coles

She has won awards for journalism, including, when she was editor-in-chief, Cosmopolitan’s a national magazine award, for a guide to contraception. She won a Matrix Award for Women in Communication in 2013 (where she was introduced by Florida Congresswoman Val Demings), and was named Editor of the year by Adweek.  She has been named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her services to journalism and the media industry and was once described by The New York Times as a powerful person in magazines.”

Coles’ foray into television began with the Style network's Running in Heels, which she co-created and executive produced; she was a mentor on Project Runway: All-Stars and executive produced the E! reality series So Cosmo, in which she also appeared on camera. Most prominently, she serves as an executive producer for The Bold Type, a scripted series airing on Freeform (formerly known as ABC Family) and Hulu.

She serves on the boards of Snap, the parent company of Snapchat; Sonos, Density Software and the clean beauty company Blue Mistral. She is the author of Love Rules, published by HarperCollins; the book was optioned for TV by ABC Signature and FX. In 2019, she signed a first-look deal with ABC Studios. She currently resides in New York City. She has two sons with Peter Godwin.

In April 2019, Joanna Coles signed a two-year first-look deal with ABC Studios. In the announcement, it was said that "under the pact, the former CCO will be developing and executive producing projects for multiple platforms with focus on streaming and cable."

Coles, Joanna. Love Rules: How To Find a Real Relationship in a Digital World. HarperCollins, 2018. https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062652584/love-rules/

Continuing the trend of Cosmo focused shows, in 2017, The Bold Type premiered on Freeform. She serves as an executive producer.

In 2016, it was announced that Joanna Coles would become Hearst's first Chief Content Officer\. She described her responsibility as CCO as “thinking the way we produce content.” In 2018, after 12 years at Hearst, she resigned from the company after being passed over for the title of president of the magazine division.

The series was announced in December 2016, with Coles as an executive producer as well as appearing on camera. So Cosmo followed the personal and professional lives of several staff members of Cosmopolitan.

Coles was appointed as editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine in 2012, putting her at the helm of the world’s largest women’s magazine. Though she only had oversight of the print platform, the digital team made Cosmo a leader in the media landscape by partnering with Snapchat to produce daily Cosmo content on the discover platform. She later joined the board of Snap Inc., parent company of Snapchat. She also brought the brand to television, executive producing the E! reality series So Cosmo. In 2013 she ran a 20 page excerpt of Lean In. Coles pivoted the magazine away from its "pleasing your man" approach towards women's empowerment.

In 2006, she joined Hearst, serving as editor-in-chief of Marie Claire magazine, then Cosmopolitan (2012-2016), before becoming the company’s Chief Content Officer in 2016.

In 2006, Coles made the move to Hearst to serve as Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire magazine. Under her leadership, the magazine produced its most successful issue in September 2012, while also launching two extensions (Marie Claire@Work, and the Women on Top Awards). She was named Adweek’s 2011 Editor of the Year for her work. During this time, Coles began her foray into television with a show called Running in Heels about Marie Claire interns, as well as appearing on Lifetime’s Emmy-winning show Project Runway.

Coles served as the articles editor of New York Magazine from 2001–2004, before becoming executive editor of More.

Born in the U.K., Coles graduated from the University of East Anglia with a B.A. in English and American literature before starting her career at The Spectator. She moved to the U.S. in 1997 to serve as the bureau chief of The Guardian and later joined The Times.

In June 1997, Coles moved to the U.S. to be The Guardian's New York bureau chief, a job that had her traveling and reporting on news and current events across the U.S.

Joanna Coles began her career in 1984 on The Spectator. In 1987, she started work as a reporter for The Daily Telegraph, before moving to the staff at The Guardian in 1989. In 1993, so co-created, wrote and presented BBC Radio 4's "Mediumwave," a live weekly radio show about the media; and wrote and presented Late Media, the TV version on BBC2.

In 1972 at the age of 10, Coles had her first article published in the children's section of the Yorkshire Post.

Joanna Louise Coles (born 20 April 1962) was Chief Content Officer for Hearst Magazines from 2016–2018.

Joanna Coles was born in West Yorkshire in 1962. Her mother was a medical social worker and her father was a teacher. Much of her family still resides in Yorkshire.