Just a Tease


Pure Moxie excerpt

So on a Tuesday in March in a bizarre villa in Florida, with a northeasterly wind whipping the trees and stirring the normally placid willows, I became the first woman publisher of a major American magazine with a circulation of more than one million. No contract, no promises, no country club membership. Just two people shaking hands. My salary was not discussed that day. An offer of $80,000 was made later in New York by Mason's financial vice president. I accepted. It was nearly double my previous salary.

Inexplicably, Raymond Mason and I trusted each other, and no matter what developed later, I would never forget the electrifying feeling of that day. I was in charge! A powerful, successful man who operated almost entirely on instinct believed that I had the ability and audacity to take on a job full of risk.

In the next two weeks, I finished up my work at Men's Wear and made the giant leap to the world of consumer magazines ...

Now I was sitting in a corner office surrounded by plush furnishings and the latest office equipment.