Anne Mollegan Smith

Board Member Emeritus

Editor/Writer

First woman to be editor-in-chief of Redbook magazine in its 85-year history; also editor-in-chief of McCall’s and Working Woman; founding editor of the Art of Simple Living; and executive editor of Glamour, Ms, New York Lawyer and Scientifc American Explorations: These are just some of the professional adventures of Anne Mollegen Smith. As president of Qwerty Communications, she had a varied client list: Opryland, Target Stores, Consumer Reports, Southern Progress, Scientific American, the Himalayan Institute, and the Auto Club of Southern California. She has contributed personal finance articles to Investopedia.com, articles and poetry to other publications, and was the founding editor of Brooklyn-artisan.net. The secret of success in an award-winning career? “My primary talent is recognizing other people’s talent and helping them make the most of it. As fiction editor, that was true with the writers I found in Redbook’s fiction ‘slush pile’—like Jane Smiley, Tim O’Brien, Anita Shreve, Mary Gordon and Lois Lowry, among others. It was certainly true with Waterwell.” Her primary contribution to American culture? “I was the person who first said, in 1978, ‘Done is better than perfect.’” Proudest title so far? “Grandmother.”