Jamila Rizvi joins Future Women as editor-at-large
Former Mamamia editor-in-chief, Jamila Rizvi, has joined Nine’s subscription women’s platform, Future Women, as editor-at-large.
Rizvi worked at Mamamia for four years before joining News Corp as a columnist in 2016. She is also an activist for women’s rights, equality and has written two books, The Motherhood and Not Just Lucky.
Jamila Rizvi will join the Nine subsidiary as editor at large
Prior to Mamamia, Rizvi was also deputy chief of staff to Kate Ellis, former minister for women, employment participation and childcare.
Speaking to Mumbrella, Rizvi said the Nine subsidiary – which will launch later this year – appealed to her as it felt like no one else was doing the same work.
“We are really at a point in time when feminism is becoming not just a topic everyone is talking about but really starting to become mainstream and companies, and particularly women working in corporates, are coming to the party and expecting more,” she said.
“This is a chance to use my skills in the media and ability to have conversations with women about things that matter to them – particularly work – and merge that with public events and actually empowering women to go into the organisations they work in and start making change. That’s a really unique proposition and I’m really excited.”
Rizvi said Future Women would not try and “duplicate” any of the other female offerings in market.
Other female offerings in market include 9Honey, Whimn, Women To Love, Yahoo7 Be and Mamamia.
“We are trying to take the next step which is actually not just give women information and entertainment but try and use that content to help them be better at work,” she explained.
Future Women will launch later this year
But Rizvi did admit there was plenty she had learned from her time at Mamamia she would be able transfer to her new role.
“I spent four years at Mamamia and was very much involved from those fledgling stages.
“Being in a start up that grew so quickly and really during those four years responded to what Australian women were talking about and what Australian women wanted, I learned a whole lot about how to appeal to the various interests of women and the multifaceted interests of women and also the basics of working in a start-up and building a brand.”
In her new role, Rizvi will be involved FW’s weekly podcast and events, and will assist editor Emily Brooks where needed. Rizvi said the network had been incredibly accomodating of her health challenges, which came to light late last year.
“I see the opportunities of editor-at-large being two fold; one is that front facing role, to be able to appear in market and in the media talking about this new platform and of course to host the podcast, but then behind the scenes I’ve got direct experience with growing a brand for women and I can be really helpful in a supporting and strategic role for the team that they have in place,” she said.
Helen McCabe, Nine’s director of digital content, said she couldn’t think of a better person for the role.
“From her early days in politics to her editorship of Mamamia and her recent books, there is probably no one more obvious to be involved in Future Women,” McCabe said.
McCabe said there was no one better for the editor-at-large role
“One of FW’s verticals is leadership and equality, and this is a space Jamila knows really well. I expect her to own that space in conjunction with Emily Brooks, our editor.”
Rizvi’s appointment follows a series of announcements for the platform, which is to officially launch later this year. It was first announced at Nine’s upfronts in 2017.
Earlier this year, McCabe announced Brooks as launch editor and Danielle Pinkus as content director and editor of the FW digital magazine.
Patti Andrews has also been appointed as creative direct and Angela Ledgerwood is joining as a New York Correspondent.
Late last week, Future Women revealed it would launch FW Academy in partnership with Diversity Partners. It will offer insights, speakers and tools for businesses looking to tackle diversity issues in their workplace.
For Rizvi, the platform is not only one that brands would want to align with, but one that women and their employers would pay for.
“We know that increasingly online it’s easy to get the recycled same story told in the same way by 20 different publications. That’s not what Future Women is going to be about.
“We are talking about a greater level of depth, a greater level of research and some quality journalism and storytelling and putting that at the heart of what we do,” she said.
“More and more, employers are talking the talk when it comes to gender equality.
“They want to look at how they can give the women who work for them the tools to fight for equality on a day to day basis.”
Keep up to date with Publish
Oh dear. Another site full of virtue signalling lefties and, to make it worse, led by one trained in the fine art of listicles and click bait. What could possibly go wrong?
User ID not verified.