Farrah Storr

My guest this week is the phenomenal Farrah Storr, author of The Discomfort Zone, one of the most thought-provoking and useful books I read last year. Farrah manages to squeeze in a few other things too. As Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, she took a struggling magazine brand and turned it around, increasing its circulation 59% to become the highest-selling British glossy. Before that, she was the launch Editor of Women’s Health, the most successful magazine launch of the decade. She’s also a TED speaker, and a social mobility commissioner.

We talk about her childhood in Salford, being rejected from Cosmo as a young journalist, and why it’s a better time for magazines than it was a few years ago. She also reveals what it’s like going up against Piers Morgan on TV and how she wrote most of her book at 5am on Saturdays and Sundays. And she tells me why she believes “having it all-ish” is a better ambition than having it all, how you can be “successful but a bit of a f**k up as well”, and why she wants to expand access to the creative industries. Finally, she reveals the single most important advice she would give to any aspiring writers.

Twitter: @aliceazania @Farrah_Storr
Instagram: @aliceazania @farrahstorr
The Discomfort Zone: https://tinyurl.com/ybzlykga
Edited by Chelsey Moore