It’s been about six weeks since Condé Nast Publications, who produce some of the world’s hottest global magazines such as Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair and GQ, named Keija Minor as the new Editor-in-Chief of Brides Magazine, making her the first African-American woman to hold the title at the prestigious Condé Nast publication.

As a longtime reader and fan of Brides Magazine, I wanted to get to know this amazing woman who had landed the influential title of EIC at such a powerful publication. Last week, I had the humbling experience of having a long personal chat with Keija Minor!  I must remark that Ms. Minor is an extremely personable, open, down to earth woman, not to mention incredibly smart as well.  After spending time chatting with this remarkable woman, I predict that Ms. Minor will do great things for Brides and will provide new inspiration and content for brides everywhere!

So, without further ado, I couldn’t be happier to introduce to you Keija Minor!  Read on for particulars on this phenomenal woman who holds a law degree from Howard University School of Law and who also worked as a corporate attorney for four years before pursuing her passion for publishing.

{SADE AWE}: WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU DID NOT WANT TO PRACTICE LAW?

{Keija Minor}:  About two years in, I realized that I was not passionate about law.  I enjoyed it during the dot com days, because I was working with interesting, creative people.  I liked working with people who had these big ideas.  Then, the bubble burst and the whole industry changed and got smaller.

If you love something, you want to read about it in your spare time.  You want to eat and breathe it, and I realized that this was not the case anymore, so I started to look for other things I could do with a law degree, because I had invested so much time and money.  I had a good friend who once told me “go for broke and do what you’re really passionate about,” and all I ever talked about was publishing, so why not go for it?

{SADE AWE}: WAS IT SCARY FOR YOU WHEN YOU ENTERED THE PUBLISHING WORLD, ESPECIALLY TAKING AN 85% PAY CUT?

{Keija Minor}:  No, it wasn’t, because I was ready to enter into the publishing world.  I spent some some time saving money, and I was in my 20s, so I was willing to take more of a risk.  When the opportunity came, I was ready to go, and excited to go, and so now to be in the publishing world is wonderful. I was doing something that I was passionate about.  When I started out, I was making no money.  I started my first assignment on a Monday and by Thursday, I was on my way to London to try out the new flat beds on Virgin airlines and stay at Sanderson Hotel.  Richard Branson was going to have a party, I was to meet some people and then fly back.

It’s a scary lead to take if you are older; if you have children and other responsibilities, it’s different.

{SADE AWE}: WHO HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST INFLUENCER IN YOUR LIFE?

{Keija Minor}:  My parents, collectively as a unit, and my aunt who lives in New York.  My parents really prepared me for everything in my life.  They set high expectations for me, they set me for success.  My aunt who lives in New York was the second influencer.  She is an illustrator and author and she believes in taking possibilities and living life to the fullest.  “People tend to regret the things they don’t do, rather than the things they did do.”

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT INSPIRES YOU PERSONALLY?

{Keija Minor}:  I would say, beautiful things.  Fashion.  It could be art, travel, the ballet, a really cute restaurant that has a great vibe.  There are people who inspire me.  Some real weddings submitted by our readers also inspire.  When I come across one of these weddings, I say, “What a brilliant idea!  We need to share this with our brides!” Travel inspires my whole family and myself.  We are big travelers!  I would have to say travel is one of my biggest inspirations.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE PLACES TO TRAVEL TO?

{Keija Minor}:  For cities, I would choose Florence and Paris.  For vacation, I would choose Turks and Caicos and Martha’s Vineyard.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE THINGS TO TRAVEL WITH?

{Keija Minor}:  Number one is lip balm and a wrap, because I am always cold on the plane.  And something to read along with my iPad. When I get on a plane, I am still old school.  I take about 50 pounds of magazines and I read it from cover to back.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT DO YOU DO TO STAY CONNECTED WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS?  HOW DO YOU MAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF?

{Keija Minor}:  Thanks to all of the technology, I am able to stay connected with family and friends via the internet and telephone. But I am still figuring out how to work that balance and make time for myself!  I so admire all of my friends who are moms, working, and are still in perfect shape. It’s inspirational.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT CAN BRIDES EXPECT TO SEE MORE OF AND LESS OF ONLINE AND IN THE MAGAZINE?

{Keija Minor}:  We will continue to build on what we have.  We redesigned about a year ago.  Anne Fulenwider [Minor’s predecessor as EIC at Brides] created a great foundation and we are going to continue to build on that.  We will continue to grow both in print and online.  Online is huge for us right now.

Brides can expect to see real weddings online and more images.  We really want to give the bride more to look at, to inspire her and to remind her that this is fun!  It’s the biggest shopping experience of her life; biggest party she is ever going to throw.  Our goal is to provide the bride with as much inspiration as possible online and in the magazine.  More dresses in print then we have ever had.  Our digital team is knocking it out!  That was seen during Bridal Week- we had runners who were running back to the office and getting us images.  We wanted to get images to our brides as fast as possible!

More inspiration, curated inspiration, and giving our audience real weddings so that our brides will get great ideas.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT IS THE DISTINGUISHING FACTOR YOU LOOK AT WHEN SELECTING REAL WEDDING INSPIRATION TO PUBLISH?

{Keija Minor}:  I look for weddings that have a lot of ideas, that will give a bride the ability to put her own spin on these ideas for her own wedding.  We look for something unique that we have not seen before; new, gorgeous ideas that we want to share with our audience.  Sometimes it’s simply a color palette- they provide inspiration all over, gorgeous and full of ideas.  There should always be a nugget that a bride can take away. To date, it’s just been brides from the United States.  It’s just that 90% of our readers are in the US.  Again, we are just always looking for great details, the things readers can take and make their own.  We live in a global society now, so we don’t have a set policy about that.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR GOING TO SIX ISSUES PER YEAR AND WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THIS CHANGE?

{Keija Minor}:  Brides was at six issues a year for a quite a while, up until 2010, so the monthly thing was new, and we decided to go back to the six issues for a variety of reasons.  The issues will be larger.  There will be more information for the bride.  We will continue to focus on bringing the bride the best when it comes to planning her wedding beauty, dresses and inspirations. But we don’t move to that frequency until January 2013.

{SADE AWE}:  WILL THERE BE MORE DIVERSITY COVERAGE IN THE EDITS?

{Keija Minor}:  I think that it is important that our magazine reflect our readership and I feel like every editor comes to the EIC position with his or her own creative thoughts as to what they will put out.  My focus is on finding beautiful, real weddings and stories that give our brides a lot of ideas that they can actually apply in their own life, and hopefully this will provide diversity and variety to our brides.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING ONLINE?

{Keija Minor}:  There is a huge consumer following on digital media, but there is something about the experience a magazine provides when it comes to planning your own wedding.  Brides are online.  The amount of time they spend there is astounding.  Digital is very important to us and social media is important, so we will continue to focus on those areas. We will be doing a Brides live wedding and we will stream it online in April via Facebook.  Our entire Facebook community will vote on which bride should win, and then they will plan the wedding for the couple.  It will be like watching it on TV, except it will be on Facebook.

{SADE AWE}:  DO YOU EVER FIND YOUR BRIDES GET THEIR GROOMS INVOLVED?

{Keija Minor}:  We are finding that today’s bride is actually getting the groom involved.  We are seeing a shift that the parent is not paying for the complete wedding, so it’s not their parents’ wedding anymore.  The couple is paying for it, they are thinking about what they want; it’s not just about the bride.  Grooms are definitely weighing in more.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU NOTICING IN WEDDING PLANNING?

{Keija Minor}:  I think weddings are more about the experience and about the guests.  Couples want their friends and family to walk away saying, “This is the best party I have ever attended!  The most fun, the greatest party.”  If the couple are foodies, they want their guests to walk away saying, “That was the best food I have ever had!”  The trend is wanting to throw a great party.  I think this ties into the fact that the couples themselves are paying.  Thirty-seven percent of couples pay entirely for the wedding.  It’s about them and making it a lasting experience for all guests involved.

{SADE AWE}:  WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON DESTINATION WEDDINGS?  CAN YOU GIVE TWO TAKEAWAYS FOR DESTINATION BRIDES?

{Keija Minor}:  Give people plenty of notice.  The second would be to give your guests plenty of information. Throw up a website so people can get information online.  One of my friends had a fare alert, so we were all updated on the fare.

{SADE AWE}:  WILL YOU CREATE A PLATFORM FOR BRIDES TO ASK YOU QUESTIONS DIRECTLY?

{Keija Minor}:  We have an “editors” email address where we get a ton of questions.  We find many of our brides post questions on our Facebook page.  I love getting questions, because I get to know what our readers are thinking about.

{SADE AWE}:  WHATS THE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO A NEWLY ENGAGED BRIDE?

{Keija Minor}:  Enjoy the planning process!  It should be fun.  Enjoy the journey and not just the day.

EXCELLENT ADVICE, Ms. Minor! and thank you again for the amazing interview.

I take to heart what my aunt said, “You tend to regret the things you don’t do rather than the things you do.”  I believe we should take a shot and do it. I heartily applaud Brides Magazine on an amazing selection for Editor-in-Chief, and send a huge congratulations to Kejia Minor!  We know you shall do exceedingly well and look forward to opening up the next Brides Magazine!

Xoxo,

Sade Awe