Radio Facts: Originally posted November 8, 2010 – The fashion industry is NOTORIOUS for being racist and even Naomi Campbell has stated the fact many times over. Therefore, with such a lack of opportunities for blacks in the industry, it would appear strange that the single most successful black woman’s magazine would hire a white fashion editor.
The end result is that Angela Burt-Murray, the woman who hired the white fashion editor is out as editor-in-chief of Essence, the Time Inc. owned magazine for African American women. Murray spent five years at the helm. She told staffers this past week in a meeting that she is relocating to Atlanta with her family. She didn’t return a call for comment. Sheryl Tucker, who took a buyout as an editor-at-large at Time Inc. in 2008, is being brought back to run the mag on an interim basis.
According to sources, the company quietly began preparing for the move a few weeks ago but wanted to proceed delicately to avoid re-igniting a controversy that flared this summer when Burt-Murray appointed a white woman to the key position of fashion director.