Lauren Sams.
The Australian Financial Review has bolstered its lifestyle coverage with four appointments, including Lauren Sams being named as editor of Fin Magazine, the Financial Review’s seasonal glossy magazine.
Sams has been the Financial Review’s fashion editor since joining the masthead in 2019 and will replace Matthew Drummond, who will continue as editor of the monthly AFR Magazine. Prior to this, Sams was features director at ELLE Australia and has worked at Cosmopolitan and delicious.com.au.
Anna McCooe has been appointed to the role of senior travel writer at the Financial Review. In this newly-created role, McCooe will oversee travel content across the masthead including afr.com, the daily newspaper, Life & Leisure, AFR Magazine and Fin Magazine. She has most recently been deputy editor of Gourmet Traveller. Before that she was the travel and lifestyle editor for Marie Claire. In 2019 she launched Marie Claire Lifestyle.
Jessica Beresford has been appointed as associate editor of Life & Leisure, the Financial Review’s weekly lifestyle insert. Beresford joins the Financial Review from the Financial Times where she has been a contributing editor and also fashion features editor for that title’s luxury glossy, HTSI. She has also been the managing editor of The Rake, based in London. Beresford will be based in the Financial Review’s Sydney newsroom and will work alongside Charis Perkins as editor of Life & Leisure.
Also joining the team is Maria Shollenbarger, who'll write a regular column on travel for AFR Magazine. As well as being a regular contributor to both AFR Magazine and Fin Magazine, Shollenbarger is the travel editor for HTSI at the Financial Times.
Drummond said these appointments demonstrate the brand's commitment to ensure the Financial Review’s lifestyle offering has the same authority as the rest of the company's journalism.
“As we gain greater data-led insights into the habits of our subscribers, we can see the need to build upon and broaden our coverage across travel, fashion, jewellery, watches, wellness and other lifestyle categories," he said.
In the latest Roy Morgan readership figures, for the September quarter, the Financial Review had a combined print and digital readership of 3.5 million. AFR Magazine has a print readership of 502,000, up 1% year-on-year; Fin Magazine has a readership of 101,000, up 7% year-on-year.
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