Dynamic, professional, and gracious, Mary Kay is a career journalist who edits a magazine helping over eleven million readers to “eat right, be fit & live well.”
KM: How did your career evolve into the editor position at Cooking Light?
MKC: After graduating from journalism school, I worked at daily newspapers before joining Southern Progress Corporation, the Birmingham, Alabama-based division of Time Inc. that publishes Cooking Light, Southern Living, Cottage Living, Southern Accents, Health, Coastal Living, and Progressive Farmer as well as the book imprint Oxmoor House. During the last 20 years, I’ve been lucky enough to have worked at many of those divisions, learning the ropes of magazine and book editing. About four and a half years ago, I was named Editor in Chief of Cooking Light. It’s a pure pleasure to serve our intelligent readership and to work with the incredibly talented team here.
KM: Who influenced you at the beginning of your career?
MKC: One early mentor was the late Jay Sharbutt, an Associated Press reporter whose work spanned the Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam to the first Gulf War and whose sensibility as a media critic remains unexcelled. Jay’s encyclopedic interests couldn’t be confined to one subject matter, and he was a model for me in that way. He also showed me the joy of sharing with readers the experiences you’re privy to as a reporter.
KM: Who influences you now?
MKC: Our readers, unquestionably. They are passionate about food, cooking, and the magazine itself. They give us an awesome responsibility to live up to. My colleagues – chefs, editors, photographers, designers, and writers – are creative and collaborative in an inspiring panoply of ways. They all influence the goals I set for myself and the magazine.
KM: Whom do you read?
MKC: Probably better to ask what I read: Newspapers, blogs, and a passel of magazines about food and many other topics besides. Cookbooks. Novels. And lots of drafts of stories for Cooking Light.
KM: What is your favorite food and wine pairing?
MKC: Karen MacNeil, Cooking Light’s contributing editor and wine columnist, shares great touts in every issue. Her guidance has really broadened my horizons, just as it has for the magazine’s other readers. She tipped me off to serving Champagne and sushi, which is a perfect – and perfectly unconventional – pairing. I also liked her suggestion of pouring Pinot Noir with planked wild salmon. And I couldn’t agree more with her about how satisfying it is to sip a Piedmontese Barolo while you tuck into a plate of buttered tagliatelle.
KM: Where do you see yourself in five years?
MKC: I hope to be doing what I’m doing now – but even more of it, and even better.
KM: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in the food writing business?
MKC: First off, write, whether it’s for yourself or for publication. It gets better and easier with practice. At the same time, read everything you can about food and cooking. From that, try to see the connections between the myriad aspects of food and people’s everyday lives. At Cooking Light, that’s where we think the best stories are.
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