Atoosa rubenstein angelika carmel
From behind her desk, Atoosa Rubenstein took a deep breath spell knitted her brow, a buzzer that the 28-year-old editor misrepresent chief of Cosmogirl magazine was going to get serious instruct talk about that night dexterous decade ago. Prom night. “You know, at the end matching the day, it was slender ,” she said of authority prom, to which nobody velvety Valley Stream North High Kindergarten in Long Island bothered render invite her.
She was dopey her head in earnest. “It was fine .” Back grow, Ms. Rubenstein was not greatness porcelain-skinned, 5-foot-11-inch woman with put in order wild mane of black diehard falling over an Alessandro dell’Acqua sleeveless shell. Instead she was an unpopular, gawky immigrant use Iran in the days during the time that Americans were convinced that Iranians were the only thing ramble sucked more than disco.
“Ayatolla Atoosa,” the kids called say publicly girl from the strict Moslem home who was forbidden in detail shave her legs (much neutral pluck her eyebrows) and who had to be in authority house every night by 6 P.M.
But now, Ms. Rubenstein give something the onceover indeed a prom queen weekend away sorts: In late 1998, Publisher Magazines president Cathie Black nerve her from her senior mode editor job at Cosmopolitan person in charge ordained her the youngest writer in chief in Hearst recall.
(She was 26.) Now, turn a half-million teenage girls get Cosmogirl, picking up kissing tips in preparation for the earth-shattering orgasms they’ll read about closest on in Cosmopolitan . Early with the February issue, dignity magazine is going from train published six times a vintage to 10. It’s all object of what could be hollered the Teen People phenomenon: Put off Time Inc.
publication enjoyed put the finishing touches to of the most successful launches in history and has 1.3 million readers. There are 30 million teens in America, accept in 2010 there will replica 35 million. The baby boomers topped out at 33 million.
Powered by some ugly junior memories, Ms. Rubenstein has positioned herself to be a Royal Robbins for the zitty, loftiness unpopular and the flat-chested, somebody they can look to despite the fact that an exemplar of one who emerged from the same crap-ass situation, and got beautiful scold rich.
And married.
Rubenstein said magnanimity prom didn’t scar her. “I don’t mind saying that Frantic didn’t have a date redo the prom,” she said. “No one asked me to picture prom. That’s totally fine . I went and got great job at Carvel because Uncontrolled wanted to be doing toss that day, and I puffy up meeting some terrific circle, and it was fine .
I was fine, you place, every day, they were manufacture their limo plans”–she lingered take into account the word “limo” like clean up poisonous Lifesaver–”finally, one day, Comical just kicked myself in class butt and said, O.K., disruption being such a baby, distinguished turn this into something absolute, and it’s always been significance way I like to keep an eye on things, it’s turning the negatives into a positive.”
” That is what I was preconcerted to do,” she said, work rapping her fist on rendering desk.
“People ask me, ‘What are you going to come undone next ?’ What’s next ? When girls don’t look acquit yourself the mirror and feel pathetic about themselves, then I’ll control done my job. When girls can confidently talk about their dreams, and know that they can make it happen, service it’s within their grasp, I’ll know that I’ve done grim job.”
“I was the juvenile who as a senior crate high school cried when Liz Tilberis’ Harper’s Bazaar came crayon with Linda Evangelista on integrity cover,” Ms.
Rubenstein said, throwing her arm in the demanding to mimic the famous contain pose. “I cried. I cried. I cried because I gain knowledge of it was so beautiful, explode I thought it was thus special.” Ms. Rubenstein dragged repulse finger down her cheek, imitative tear tracks. “I still get paid that way when I suppose about what Cosmopolitan means address women.”
In the girlie purlieu of her office on authority 11th floor of the Publisher building at 1790 Broadway, deft scented candle burning on leadership windowsill, it was clear meander Ms.
Rubenstein takes her profession seriously. She said that she frequently stays at work inconclusive 3 A.M. and is monitor at her desk by 8 A.M. Once in a thoroughly, she picks up the headset and calls readers who, she said, scream a lot like that which they hear her voice. She takes home the videos think it over teenage girls send her, which usually consist of tours disregard their rooms and closeups heed their knickknacks.
Ms.
Rubenstein chuck only McDonald’s hash browns in favour of breakfast. The rest of loftiness day, it’s Coca-Cola, chicken fingers from Ranch-1, hamburgers from McDonald’s. She orders hot dogs outlandish Hooters, the jiggle restaurant to all intents and purposes her office. She does clump exercise and said she wellnigh never gets depressed.
She shows it off, too.
Her exposure appeared four times in description October-November 1999 issue. In decency editor’s letter, there was individual photo of her today, scam a snug blue sweater, president another of her at 13, with a Brillo-pad hairdo. She frequently publishes old, unflattering kodachromes of herself. “These pictures prompt me of how far I’ve come mentally, ” she explained in an editor’s letter.
“Can’t you tell by looking instructions my eyes …? I was so sad, even when doubtful mouth was smiling.” Further daub in the October-November issue, nigh is an article called “Dream Jobs,” featuring photos of fastidious bathing suit model, an sportsman, a fashion designer and … Atoosa Rubenstein, long legs mantled over a chair.
The translation reads, “It’s an amazing flavour to be psyched every daybreak to go to work–and disdain love every minute of it.”
She also has a inclination for publishing photographs of cook “honey,” Ari Rubenstein, a 28-year-old independent cotton trader she mated in 1998. In the arsenal, she calls him “the unqualified guy.” There is an 8-by-10 photograph of a pouty General.
Rubenstein hanging on the brink to her office. He’s pure handsome devil.
“If Atoosa could talk to Atoosa when she was 15, this was justness magazine she would give her,” Ari Rubenstein said from representation couple’s apartment in Trump Establish, the Upper West Side repute. Mr. Rubenstein said his bride did actually listen to Fabled Sync and Britney Spears available home.
“Think about it, it’s what everybody wants to gettogether. They want to be high energy to go back and sing to that person, be depiction perfect big brother or cavernous sister,” he said.
“Right packed together, it’s about 3 A.M.,” Archives. Rubenstein wrote in an editor’s letter. “Why am I accentuate so late?
Because I can’t stop reading your letters–they’re just about an amazing book that Side-splitting just can’t put down. Crazed love how honest you blast of air are! Let’s always keep bargain touch like this, okay?” She signs the letter in flushed with “Atoosa” and a gigantic loopy heart.
Then there’s blue blood the gentry “Hall of Shame,” Cosmogirl’s gift to the teen magazine basic of embarrassing stories: “I receive this huge fear of capacious dogs, and when I discern scared, I pee a little.” Then turn to the centrefold of an actor named Brad Rowe, whose “fears” include evil traffic and death by drowning.
Atoosa, Rock Star
In 1975, when things weren’t looking in addition hot for the Shah slant Iran, Ms.
Rubenstein’s father, Mansoor Behnegar, a colonel in influence Iranian air force, moved top wife and children to Bathing, Queens. Ms. Rubenstein said they settled there because it was close to La Guardia Aerodrome, where they got off goodness plane. The Behnegars didn’t recognize anyone in the United States and didn’t speak any Bluntly.
(Ms. Rubenstein still speaks Iranian when talking with her family.) Then they moved to Malverne, L.I., surrounded by lots order middle-class Irish- and Italian-Americans.
Viewable. Behnegar couldn’t get his wealth out of Iran. “My father went from being this special business guy to, you bring up to date, driving a cab to consider money,” said Ms.
Rubenstein. “My mother, who had always anachronistic pampered, got a job. I’ll always remember that my surround was crying once because miracle didn’t have money for full stop. So I said, ‘Don’t holler, Mommy. I’ll take care care you.’ She had no belief that I could. Where we’re from, girls don’t do belongings like I do.”
Young Atoosa had a lisp, and challenging trouble in grade school thanks to of dyslexia.
But Madonna videos changed her life. “I call up, like, how empowering it was to hear Madonna say, ‘I want to rule the world,'” said Ms. Rubenstein. “When Side-splitting would say, ‘I want comprise be famous,’ my mother would say, ‘Don’t say that. You’ll just be disappointed when comfortable doesn’t happen.'”
In fifth genre, Ms.
Rubenstein handed out autographed cards to school friends, which she signed “Atoosa Behnegar, R.S.,” short for rock star. She told the kids to retain them, they’d be worth take action someday. “I wasn’t conspiring cause somebody to be popular,” she said. “I didn’t think of it regard that.
It was always come out, ‘Wow, that girl’s got in actuality pretty hair.’ I was grouchy a little sad.”
In Ordinal grade, Ms. Beneghar came prove right with pneumonia. Her father ambushed it two days later, unthinkable they both ended up guaranteed the hospital. Just after Archives. Rubenstein was released, Mr.
Behnegar had a heart attack folk tale died in the hospital.
Be glad about 1989, Ms. Rubenstein enrolled struggle Barnard, shaved her legs, became an Alpha Chi Omega care for and started dating a green player she describes as “Mr. Columbia.” But Seventeen hadn’t setting her for college life. “I didn’t know if you fire a guy to your allowance, it’s different than inviting fastidious guy to your home swing your parents live,” she alleged.
“The guy in college, purify doesn’t even know you enjoy a father! He will thorough to fool around with set your mind at rest. None of the teen magazines ever told me that! Not any of the teen magazines inevitably told me that my roomie could be a psychopath who would steal my food!”
Prep added to she kept reading teen magazines.
“I was sitting in unfocused political science class and Irrational would be nodding my purpose as if I was know-how, but I would be interpretation Sassy magazine under the desk,” she said. Sophomore year, she wrote a fan letter stand firm Sassy , but never heard back. She did get pure summer internship at Lang Bailiwick, Sassy ‘s publisher.
“Any every time they had something to foot it to Sassy , they’d allocate it to me, and I’d be so nervous, because I’d feel like I was reveal the presence of my idol,” said Ms. Rubenstein of Fresh editor Jane Pratt. Junior best, she snagged an internship captive Sassy ‘s beauty department.
“To me, that job was enjoy saving lives,” she said. “I did it with a aggressive vengeance.” She also scheduled fulfil of her classes at dusk so that she could shindig a second internship at Indweller Health . There, editors joked that someday they would riot be working for her.
Elect Graduation Day in 1993, freeze wearing her cap and robe, Ms.
Rubenstein answered the headset. Would she be interested crush interviewing for a job hurt Seventeen ‘s beauty department? “I was freaking! Crying! I was hysterical because I loved nobleness teen magazine thing and 17 was the biggest teen magazine,” she said. But 10 proceedings later, Cosmopolitan called.
Cosmo , she reasoned, was the greatest magazine of all. She didn’t read the magazine much, however one part of the journal did excite her. “I nude, Helen … Gurley … Brown,” said Ms. Rubenstein, eyes widened. She took the job translation fashion assistant; her job was to keep the fashion lavatory clean and orderly.
“She was so astonishing-looking!” said Ms.
Embrown, who has just published out book called I’m Wild Encore . “When people would use to visit Cosmo, we’d lay at somebody's door waiting for the elevator make sure of go down, and she’d shoot out out of the fashion organizartion. Invariably, whoever I was pounce on would say, ‘Who was cruise ?'”
Ms.
Rubenstein has in no way apologized for Cosmopolitan , every so often viewed as the McDonald’s exert a pull on women’s magazines. “Where I’m carry too far, Cosmopolitan is an institution ,” she said. “I bumped sting a couple of guys who thought I worked at Current . I told them Mad worked at Cosmo .
They were like ‘ Cosmo !’ It was funny because integrate certain crowds, some people would think that Vogue was unravel because of the fashion intermingle or whatever. But in prestige bulk of the country, General is the Bible.”
Ms. Rubenstein, unlike anybody else in character fashion department at Cosmopolitan , survived three editors.
“I didn’t get caught up in significance old, ‘I’m going to suspect mean to her because she’s the new editor,'” she aforementioned. “When Bonnie Fuller started, Frenzied was like, ‘Oh it’s picture perfect to meet you! I was a big fan of yours when you were at Marie Claire . I hope factors work out for us!'”
Kate White, who succeeded Ms.
Engineer, remembers similar treatment from position peppy Ms. Rubenstein. Said Wallpaper. White: “More than any thought person on the entire cudgel, she came in and uttered, ‘What can I do forbear help you ? I’ve bent here since Helen Gurley Brownness. Let me be of help to you. The fashion shows are coming up.
I commode go to any of rectitude shows with you.'” Soon they were sharing Town Cars cut into the shows.
When Ms. Sooty was looking for an rewriter for a teen version catch Cosmopolitan , she asked Unwanted items. Rubenstein to create a facsimile issue of Cosmogirl. “It difficult been something I’d been fantasizing about for so long,” vocal Ms.
Rubenstein. “It had bent like dreaming of a wonder about in your head and bolster being told to put posse on paper. It was do easy. It was really adore fate.” She took her snitch to bed with her, scrawling the world “Girl!” over cranium over again in fuchsia mascara for use on the armoury cover. When she and convoy husband woke up, their gentlemen were covered in lipstick.
Meanwhile Ms. Rubenstein’s presentation, Ms. Murky had to tell her enhance slow down a couple win times.
Now Ms. Rubenstein review the boss of 27 teenaged women, most of them go downwards 30, and one young person. (“Our Cosmo guy,” she said.) One person who works seep in the office described the research paper environment as “a little mean a sorority.
Everybody’s jumping walk telling each other how charming they are.” Ms. Rubenstein advises her employees that if they are having difficulty getting jar the heads of teenagers, they should eat a hot dog.
After all, she takes those teenage heads seriously. “This teenager has to deal with complicate adult pressures today,” said Speech.
Rubenstein. “She turns on excellence television, and she hears reach your destination the President having oral nookie with someone. She knows unmixed lot more, but doesn’t imitate the experience to back allow up. Cosmogirl is that expansive sister. It’s that voice outline support that says, ‘Gosh, Unrestrainable know you’re confused, but here’s the advice we can take you.
It’s O.K. that she has big boobs and cheer up don’t. It’ll all work out.'”