About PEOPLE

Mar. 15, 2025

In This ArticleView All

View All

In This Article

Who We Are

All About PEOPLE

ChatGPT & Other AI

Diversity & Inclusion

Community Guidelines

PEOPLE Leadership

About Dotdash Meredith

Contact Us

Engage with Us

Work with Us

Advertise with Us

If you read it on PEOPLE, you know it is true. PEOPLE is committed to accurate, fair and complete journalism. As part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family, we uphold theDotdash Meredith Content Integrity Promise.

Clickherefor our Terms of Use page.

PEOPLE is committed to taking visible, measurable steps to combat racism, sexism and other biases in the media. Our definition of diversity, and the areas in which we seek to increase inclusivity and representation, includes race, culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, body type and ability.

We will enlist Dotdash Meredith’s Anti-Bias Review Board to do a thorough review of our content on a consistent basis, starting with our print magazine and social media platforms (which include Instagram, TikTok and YouTube), to give actionable recommendations of how we can increase diversity and representation in those formats.

Additionally, we will conduct a survey of contractors who create content for PEOPLE to better understand the diverse makeup of our freelancers, photographers, and other contributors. This survey will aid in our ongoing initiative to make diversity a priority when assigning work, and during our recruiting and hiring processes.

We will commit to greater representation in our visual assets, working to ensure a broad array of people and perspectives are represented on social media, our homepage, within print and digital articles, and in any additional video programming. With the help of the Anti-Bias Review Board, we will continue to do ongoing audits of the language we use to ensure it is fair, accurate and inclusive.

If you have questions or issues with your commenter account, please emailcommunity@people.com.

Michelle Tauber, Associate General Manager

Michelle Tauber is Associate General Manager at PEOPLE, overseeing all digital content and managing the editorial newsroom. She joined PEOPLE in 2000 and since then has covered everything from royal weddings to celebrity breaking news to health, crime and human interest.

Andrea Lavinthal, Executive Director, Special Integrated Projects

Andrea Lavinthal is the Executive Director, Special Integrated Projects at PEOPLE, where she oversees the brand’s franchises including Sexiest Man Alive and The Beautiful Issue, plus execution of digital issues, editorial partnerships, events and campaigns. With over 20 years of experience in media, Andrea is an authority in the beauty, style and pop culture space and has appeared on national television shows includingToday,E! News,Good Morning America, The Drew Barrymore ShowandAccess Hollywood. She co-hosted thePEOPLE in the ’90spodcast, and regularly appears on top ranked podcasts includingThe Bright Side,Lady Gang,Not Skinny But Not Fat,Add to Cart,Fat MascaraandBreaking Beauty.

Before joining PEOPLE as the Style and Beauty Director in 2012, Andrea spent almost a decade atCosmopolitanwhere in addition to writing features about beauty, she helped launch Cosmo Radio on SiriusXM and started the brand’s first ever beauty blog. She graduated with a B.A. in Magazine Journalism from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and lives in Connecticut (but is a proud New Jersey native).

DDM

Kathryn Vandervalk, VP of Content Strategy

She began her career at an agency, crafting content strategy for tech startups. After moving to Dotdash Meredith in 2017, she worked in SEO and growth across the portfolio of lifestyle brands, before focusing on beauty and weddings. During her tenure with Byrdie & Brides, she helped grow each site’s search presence to over six times its pre-acquisition size. Her work combines her passion for logic and data with her love of writing: Vandervalk earned a B.A. and M.A. studying Creative Writing at The University of Chicago, and her M.F.A. in Fiction Writing is from Columbia University.

Alex Brez, Director of Operations and Finance

Melody Chiu is a Los Angeles-based journalist with extensive experience editing, writing and reporting across PEOPLE’s entertainment verticals. With the brand since 2009, she has written cover stories on Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Melissa McCarthy and House of Horrors survivor Jordan Turpin. Chiu oversees all of PEOPLE’s entertainment verticals, as well as events strategy and live red carpet coverage for awards season. She graduated from the University of Southern California and has appeared onToday,The Talk,Good Morning Americaand more.

Elizabeth Favre, Senior Director, Social Media

Elizabeth Favre is Senior Director of Social Media at PEOPLE. She leads social efforts, audience growth strategy, content distribution and optimization across platforms (with a combined social footprint of 45 million+ followers). Prior to joining the team at PEOPLE, she managed social strategy at Hearst andBillboard.

Maria Mercedes Lara, Senior Director of Digital Content Operations

Maria Mercedes Lara is Senior Director of Digital Content Operations for PEOPLE, where she oversees content management and editorial workflow for the digital team, with a focus on increasing growth through PEOPLE’s newsletters, homepage and notification audiences. She previously held the position of Deputy News Director for PEOPLE.com. Before joining PEOPLE, Maria worked at POPSUGAR, SpinMedia Group and Jezebel. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at the New School University in New York City.

She has also worked as a digital producer at SiriusXM and director of digital/influencer at PR/marketing firm M Booth.

A Virginia native, Dutt graduated from James Madison University with degrees in Communications, English and Graphic Design.  She also has a Master’s Degree in Magazine Journalism from New York University.

Miller is a graduate of Princeton University and author ofE-Mail Etiquette. She lives in Brooklyn.

Lizz Leonard is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles who oversees PEOPLE’s verticals on the West Coast and manages key industry partnerships and relationships in Hollywood. A veteran who began her career as a reporter atNewsweek, Leonard has helped PEOPLE become an industry leader in access journalism and breaking news, helping to transform PEOPLE’s West Coast bureau into a cross-platform creative powerhouse.

Prior to her role at PEOPLE, Apatoff worked atUs Weekly(where, among other things, she oversaw the Fashion Police pages) and graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism.

Between 2006 and 2019, Helligar was an international drifter, settling short- and longer-term in Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Bangkok, Cape Town, Sydney, London, Belgrade, Kiev, Sarajevo and Prague. He documented his expat escapades in these cities and various others in Eastern Europe in two books (Is It True What They Say About Black Men?andStorms in Africa) and various articles. Helligar has also written about race and queer issues forThe Advocate, HuffPost, Medium,Reader’s Digest, The Root,Variety, The Wrap, Queerty and various other digital and print platforms.

Lindsay Kimble has worked at PEOPLE for over seven years, non-consecutively, as a writer, reporter and editor across content buckets, covering everything from the Super Bowl to the Olympics to the Met Gala.

She’s been nominated for the ASME NEXT Awards for Journalists Under 30, and previously wrote for Us Weekly while on staff at Wenner Media. She also served as the Entertainment and Celebrity Content Director at POPSUGAR.

Brittany Talarico, Director, Style & Beauty

Zach Gabrielski, Vice President, Product

Zach Gabrielski leads the product development team for the Entertainment Group at Dotdash Meredith, which includesPEOPLE.com,EW.comandPeopleEnEspanol.com. Prior to that, Zach worked on other brands at Dotdash Meredith includingByrdie.com,Brides.com, andTripsavvy.com.

David Flumenbaum, Vice President, Video & Audio, Entertainment Group

David Flumenbaum is head of video and audio for PEOPLE. Since July 2020, he has run the PEOPLE Digital Studio, a business unit that he launched unifying video and audio, and is responsible for all programming, production, distribution and revenue for PEOPLE video and audio. Under his leadership, PEOPLE video has reached record numbers for both viewership and revenue, and established its first slate of podcasts, including the daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

Prior to his role at PEOPLE, he ran video programming strategy, distribution and analytics for both the Meredith and Time Inc. brand portfolios, and before that, spent nine years at the Huffington Post.

Phoebe Weekes, Creative Director

Phoebe Weekes has been the Creative Director of the PEOPLE brand since 2023, serving as Design Director for a decade prior. Her role focuses on ensuring a seamless integration of content, imagery and design elements across all platforms.

Originally from Australia, she graduated from the Sydney University of Technology with an Honors degree in Visual Communications. Before relocating to America she held senior positions with Emap Australia and the Australian Consolidated Press, specializing in entertainment and lifestyle related art direction.

Ilana Schweber, Photo Director

Ilana Schweber was named Director of Photography for Meredith Corporation’s PEOPLE brand across digital and print platforms in August 2018. She joined PEOPLE’s photo team in 2010, serving as Managing Director of Photography and overseeing all aspects of shoot production and photo research in addition to managing staff and overseeing budgets.

Lauren Lieberman, Managing Photo Director, Digital

Karli Bendlin.

Karli Bendlin, Director of Content Strategy

Jason Sheeler, West Coast Special Projects Director

Jason Sheeler is West Coast Special Projects Director for PEOPLE, Byrdie & InStyle. Prior to PEOPLE, Sheeler served as Style Director atDeparturesmagazine, managing the fashion department and advertiser relationships.

A graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York, Sheeler has served in senior editorial positions at Entertainment Weekly and Condé Nast’sGlamour. His work has also appeared inThe New York Times,VOGUE,Condé Nast Traveler,Travel + Leisure,The Hollywood ReporterandAir Mail.

Janine Rubenstein is a veteran entertainment journalist and former host of the daily podcast,PEOPLE Every Day.

For the past nine years she has reported and edited breaking news, music features (she interviewed Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Jon Bon Jovi, and John Legend, to name a few), human interest, style, and contributed to PEOPLE’s popular franchises Sexiest Man Alive and the Beautiful Issue, as well as co-hosted the PEOPLE & Entertainment WeeklyRed Carpet Livestreaming events during awards season. Prior to joining PEOPLE, the San Francisco native reported news and entertainment atEssenceand served as a reporter/writer at the legendaryCape Timesnewspaper in South Africa.

EXECUTIVE EDITORIAL DIRECTORMelody Chiu

MANAGING EXECUTIVE EDITOR/WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEFElizabeth Leonard

EDITORIAL DIRECTORSSonal Dutt, Samantha Miller

EXECUTIVE EDITORSAlex Apatoff, Breanne Heldman, Jeremy Helligar, Lindsay Kimble, Anya Leon, Nick Maslow

CREATIVE DIRECTORPhoebe Weekes

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHYIlana Schweber

DIRECTOR, STYLE & BEAUTYBrittany Talarico

SPECIAL PROJECTS DIRECTORJason Sheeler (West Coast)

EDITORS AT LARGEJulie Jordan, Elizabeth McNeil, Janine Rayford Rubenstein

NEWS

Senior Director, Digital Content Operations: Maria Mercedes Lara

Senior Reporters: Danielle Bacher, Elizabeth Rosner, Gillian Telling

Staff Writer: Vanessa Etienne, Charna Flam, Janine Henni, Angel Saunders

Writer/Reporters: Brenton Blanchet, Skyler Caruso, Lizzie Hyman, Charlotte Phillipp, Bailey Richards, Gabrielle Rockson, Hannah Sacks, Escher Walcott

SOCIAL MEDIA

Senior Director, Social Media: Elizabeth Favre

Associate Director, Audience Engagement: Ariel Nagi

Associate Director, Social Media Production: Maggie Dickman

Writer, Digital Platforms: Robert Moscato-Goodpaster

Associate Producer, Platforms: Sloan Pecchia, Maya Pow

ENTERTAINMENT

Senior Writers: Eric Andersson, Rachel DeSantis, JP Mangalindan

Staff Writers: Dana Rose Falcone, Jennifer Haupt, Alex Ross, Jack Smart

Writer/Reporters: Daniela Avila, Jack Irvin, Esther Kang, Tommy McArdle, Julia Moore

HUMAN INTEREST, CRIME & WORLD AFFAIRS

Senior Writers: KC Baker, Johnny Dodd, Eileen Finan, Emily Palmer, Christine Pelisek

Chief Foreign Correspondent: Simon Perry (London)

Contributing Correspondent Monique Jessen (London)

Special Correspondent: Peter Mikelbank (Paris)

Staff Writers: Nicole Acosta, Angela Andaloro, Virginia Chamlee, Samira Asma-Sadeque

Writer/Reporters: Abigail Adams, Anna Caplan, Jordan Greene, Zoey Lyttle, Liam Quinn

LIFESTYLE & SPECIAL PROJECTS

Digital Features Director: Kate Hogan

Features Writer: Alexandra Schonfeld

STYLE & BEAUTY

Deputy Beauty Director: Jacqueline Fields

Style Writer: Catherine Santino

COMMERCE

Director of Commerce, Evergreen: Lindsey Metrus

VIDEO & AUDIO

Vice President: David Flumenbaum

Head of Production: Lauren Mikler

Executive Producer, PEOPLE in 10: Lauren Carney

Senior Director of Operations: Alesa Andrew

DESIGN

Design Director: Dean Markadakis

Art Directors: David Jaenisch, Henry Yung

Deputy Art Director: Elease Crump

Associate Art Director: Jackie Jordan

Senior Designer: Aleena Qazi

PHOTOGRAPHY

Associate Director of Photography: Jessica Bryan

News Director: Florence Nash

Photo Researcher: Mika Dyer

Photo Operations Associate: Joy Scheller

Photo Finance Coordinator: Shemika Harris

Photo & Art Assistant: Keira Castellitto

DIGITAL

Managing Photo Director: Lauren Lieberman

OPERATIONS

Content Operations Manager: Miya Ramos

Research Manager: Celine Wojtala

Research Archivist: Ean Sheehy

Production Artists: Daniel J. Neuburger, Dominick Santise, Mike Vukobratovich

Copy Chief: Joanann Scali

Deputy Copy Chief: James Bradley

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Brendan Le, Michelle Lee, Daniel Peláez, Natalia Senanayake, Carly Tagen-Dye, Sabrina Weiss

COMMUNICATIONS

Vice President: Marnie Perez

Senior Manager: Kari Stephenson

Associate Communications Manager: Danielle Viera

Junior Publicist: Sophia Martini

PREMEDIA

Senior Director: Dale Tunender

Quality Analysts: Sara Luckey, Rob Roszkowski

Imaging Specialists: Don Atkinson, Jacques Lizotte, David Swain

Trafficking Supervisors: Jackie Beard, Sarah Schuster, Taylor Thomas

Vice President, Content Strategy: Kathryn Vandervalk

Director, Content Strategy: Karli Bendlin

Vice President, Engineering: Ed Benjamin

Vice President, Product: Zach Gabrielski

Senior Art Director: Gloria Pantell

PEOPLE is part of the Dotdash Meredith family of brands committed to creating accurate, helpful news and information that represents and serves all people. Founded in 1996, Dotdash Meredith is an operating business ofIAC. From mobile to magazines, nearly 200 million people trust us to help them make decisions, take action and find inspiration. Dotdash Meredith’s over 50 iconic brands include PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, Verywell, FOOD & WINE, The Spruce, Allrecipes, Byrdie, REAL SIMPLE, Investopedia, Southern Living and more.

Learn moreabout the team behind Dotdash Meredith.

Readabout Dotdash Meredith and our family of brands in the news.

Do you have something you’d like to let us know? Whether you have an idea to share or a lead we should pursue, we look forward to hearing from you:tips@people.com.

For press inquiries, email us atpress@people.com.

If you would rather send us a letter, you can reach us at 225 Liberty Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10281.

For brand licensing inquiries, please emailbrandlicensing@dotdashmdp.com.

If you need help with your magazine subscription, go topeople.com/myaccountor call 1-800-541-9000.

PEOPLE SMS OFFERS: For assistance, please contact us atconsumersupport@dotdashmdp.comor visitherefor further contact details. Text STOP to opt out.

PEOPLE is everywhere you are. You can find us onFacebook,Instagram,Snapchat,PinterestandTikTok

Join our crew of top-notch reporters, editors, designers and more as we continue to report the latest celebrity, true crime and human interest news.

View job openings

PEOPLE offers the highest value to advertisers through a combination of scale, credibility and intent. Interested in advertising with us? Email us atads@people.comor check out ourmedia kitto learn more.

source: people.com