MEET DEBORAH THOMAS

 

Q: What study, skills and experience do you feel best prepared you for your current role?

A: Working 24 years as a journalist/ magazine editor with fantastic people who have taught me so much, not only about the logistics of my job but how to work with people and bring out the best in your team.

Q: Do you feel that it is disadvantageous for men to edit publications that are specifically targeted for women, or is an editor an editor, regardless of their gender?

I think an editor is an editor regardless of gender but it does help if you have an affinity with your audience and an understanding of their needs. Personally I couldn’t imagine editing a men’s magazine as the fun of the job is covering information that is not only of relevance to the audience but more often than not to you. That is what attracted me to the job - I am constantly learning new things.

Q: How do you rate the importance of mentoring in the workplace, and have you found value in either being mentored or mentoring someone, or both?

A: Extremely valuable. I was lucky enough to have a number of wonderful mentors – both men and women. The one that I am always grateful to is Lisa Wilkinson who in her role as editor of CLEO gave me my first real job in magazines in 1987. We are still close friends and she is both generous and supportive when it comes to giving great advice and opening doors. I have tried to follow in her footsteps and hope that there are a number of women and men who regard me as their mentor as I love to help where I can.

Q: What would be the most daunting professional challenge that you have faced, and how did you overcome it?

A: My first job as an editor  in 1992. It was at MODE magazine ( now Harper’s Bazaar) and I was scared stiff as it was a huge responsibility on a magazine that was having trouble finding its place. I just gave it my best shot and tried to rally everyone into a team and it paid off as we increased both our circulation and revenue substantially in a year.

Q: In this edition of Queentessentials, our PR Stat is that only 4.9% of media companies in Australia have women as board members.  As a Member of the Board of a large media company in Australia, can you give us your thoughts as to why there are so few women in a similar position to yours?

I am not on the board of NEC which is the parent company for ACP Magazines. We are in fact owned by private equity. I am however on the board of the National Library of Australia and it was certainly my decade as editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly, and more recently as Director of Media, Public Affairs and Brand Development at ACP, that has given me the skills to bring something to the table there.  I am also about to do the Directors course at the Australian Institute of Company Directors  as I won a board diversity scholarship earlier this year.

In regards to women and boards: there is a lot of work still to be done in addressing the gender inequality on company boards however this slowly changing as more women push to be on boards and acquire the skills necessary to do so. I think we do need more men mentoring women into these roles as often it is more a matter of getting the break and taking those first steps. To have someone experienced help you, male or female,  is of real value.

Q: What changes, if any, would you recommend so that educated and experienced professional women in the media can reach (and stay on!) in the highest levels of management?

A: Women need to help and support other women to achieve their goals.  I think the media  - or at least the magazine media - that I work in isn’t too bad in regards to women in senior management. I like to think it’s about merit and reward for hard work. Perhaps at the absolute highest levels it’s still tough for women to get there, but sometimes we have better things we want  to do and other priorities.  I think we’ll see enormous changes over the next 10 years and I hope that the opportunities are there for women as much as men.

Be sure to check out this month's edition of The Australian Women's Weekly for a special feature profiling 'Women of Influence'.  Click here for a sneak peak.