Down-to-earth

In a business notorious for turnover, Kate White’s seven years as Cosmopolitan’s editor in chief stand out.

She was tapped by Hearst Corp. in 1998 for the high-profile job. She got the call on a Sunday afternoon, while making a blueberry dessert for her family at her country home in Pennsylvania.

White, 53, says she loves her job far more than she expected. And as demanding as it is, she still has managed to crank out a mystery novel in each of the past four years. (Set in the magazine world, the books feature a crime-solving free-lance writer, Bailey Weggins. The new one, “Over Her Dead Body,” came out in July.)

A down-to-earth White answered questions about the magazine and what it’s meant over the years.

Q. How have things changed under your tenure?

A. We are one of the few mature magazines that is still extraordinarily successful. So I tried to keep the basic mission pretty much the same. What readers say over and over to us is that they see us as their playbook for carving out the life they want for themselves. They also expect to be entertained. They tell us they read it out loud to their boyfriends or to each other and say, “You’re not going to believe this. …”

Q. How has the Cosmo girl – woman – changed over the years?

A. Even in the 1970s, there was this Cosmo girl image, with a cover that showed her looking like the most powerful woman on the planet. That’s who the reader was in her mind and hoped to be. Now, from reading my e-mail, it’s who she views herself to be and how she acts.

Q. When the magazine began in 1965, women didn’t talk to each other about sex like they do today, so Cosmo filled a niche. So how does Cosmo fit in today?

A. We still talk to women very candidly. It’s not earnest or sappy or “golly gee.” It’s the authentic voice of someone who might be your friend who is hip and smart and a little bit cheeky, and she may be a year older, so you look to her as a pal and mentor.

This friend will tell it like it is when you ask, “Should I call this guy?” She’ll say, “You’re crazy if you do. You don’t want to play games, but you have to, because guys do.” Also, we’re better informed than your friends might be.

Q. Who is the reader you keep in mind when you’re editing?

A. She’s 24, she may be at her second job, and she’s absolutely single. But we also know that married women read us; women who are 44 read us. If anyone else wants a window on that world, we welcome her along for the ride.

Q. About those sexy cover lines – why the continuing emphasis on sex, besides the fact that it’s obviously a successful formula?

A. We are more than a magazine – we’re a guidebook to sex and sexuality. But our readers are just as high on articles on how men’s brains operate as anything else. Our readers accept the fact that men and women are different, and they want to know how to use that to navigate the relationship. On the cover lines, we are a bit over the top. It’s a magazine that is going to entertain – so we’re going to be a little outrageous.

Q. Helen Gurley Brown used to have her husband write all the cover lines. Who writes them now?

A. My executive editor and I do them. This was the first magazine I edited where I was not in the demographic of the reader. So I’ve had young editors do a first pass. And a couple of us sit down and look at those. Then for an hour each day, two weeks every month, the executive editor and I meet and look at the cover lines. When there is so much at stake, we work them over and over. I couldn’t farm them out to anyone. You can have wicked fun doing it!

Q. What changes are you most pleased of making at Cosmo?

A. I’ve added a news editor – I’ve told her we’ll get to the point where that’s not an oxymoron. I’ve added lot of health news, articles on things like binge drinking and date rape – a feature called “From the Files of Linda Fairstein.” (Fairstein is well-known as a tough, former New York City prosecutor.) We want these articles to help young women be safe in different types of situations, including traveling alone.

We’ve written how the No. 1 cause of death of pregnant women is murder. There’s a gynecological column, too, because women readers have told us they want that. Also, I’ve made sure there’s far more ethnic diversity, visually, in our pages.

Q. Do people ever tell you they are offended by the sexiness of the magazine?

A. Well, when someone tells me that, I say, “I can’t believe you’ve read it recently. Out of 54 articles, three might be about sex.” The No. 1 message I get from readers is, “You empower me.”

Q. When was the first time you met Helen Gurley Brown?

A. I was sent to interview her in 1979, and she was putting on lipstick. When she turned around, I realized we were wearing the exact same outfit. A white blouse, with a black ribbon bow tie and black drapey pants. The only difference was hers was silk and mine was 100 percent rayon.

Three years later, she called me down for an interview for a job. But she told me, “You’d be bored. And you’d be waiting for me to retire.”

Q. So now you’ve had the job for seven years. What do you think?

A. When I got it, it was hard to imagine I was going to love it, but I couldn’t say no. Now, it feels so right. The magazine is fun, bold and feisty. And I work with people who make me laugh.

Q. Do you think you’ll be like Helen, still editing Cosmo in your 70s?

A. I will be in a hammock – in Provence – with a good mystery.