Are Media, Australia’s leading omnichannel content company for women, has announced the appointment of Sophie Tedmanson (pictured above) as Editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Reporting to Are Media’s General Manager – Lifestyle, Nicole Byers, Sophie will join The Australian Women’s Weekly in November and will be responsible for leading the editorial content of the magazine.
Sophie specialises in engaging, female-led story-telling and lifestyle content and comes to the role with over three decades of experience in publishing, journalism and media engagement. She has worked as an editor and journalist in leading international media organisations as well as national and state Arts institutions.
Cutting her teeth with a cadetship at News Corp, Sophie went on to help set up its Olympics Bureau before relocating to London and taking up a position at The Times in the UK. Sophie returned to Australia and stepped into the role of Deputy South East Asia Editor at The Times bureau in Australia before beginning a six-year term at Vogue Australia. During her time at Vogue, Sophie held several key roles, including Features Director, Arts Editor and Deputy Editor, and secured coveted exclusives with the likes of Nicole Kidman and Princess Mary.
As Executive Editor at Qantas Magazine, Sophie contributed to the development and implementation of a multi-platform editorial content strategy with a strong travel and lifestyle focus, before more recently pursuing her passion for arts and culture with communications roles at the National Gallery, Art Gallery of NSW and Australian Museum.
“Being Editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly is one of the greatest jobs in Australian media. I should know; I did it for six amazing years. The Weekly has been the trusted voice of Australian women for nine decades and being its Editor is a huge responsibility – but also tremendously fulfilling and a lot of fun. The Weekly is a powerful, well-established and iconic brand, one that is evolving and growing all the time” Byers said.
“I’m delighted that Sophie is joining the team. Her passion for women’s issues and her extensive experience in delivering quality lifestyle and news content, coupled with her deep understanding of omnichannel publishing, will be a huge asset to the brand. She is joining a stellar team of content creators at an incredibly exciting time for the brand, and I cannot wait to see where she takes The Weekly in the coming years.”
“Championing and empowering women through their stories and creating engaging lifestyle content – whether through short-form news or long-lead features and across all media platforms – has always been a passion of mine, so I am both excited and humbled at this opportunity to do so at The Australian Women’s Weekly” Tedmanson said.
“It is an honour to take the helm of Australia’s most iconic women’s publication, and I look forward to leading its talented and dedicated team towards its centenary”.
Celebrating its 90th birthday this year, The Australian Women’s Weekly is a true media super brand, spanning the print magazine, cookbooks, online, television, social and more.
Readership of print version of The Australian Women’s Weekly hit 1.33 million in the June 2023 quarter, up a strong 10% on the June 2022 quarter. Across print and digital media, the brand reaches 2.43 million people a month.
The appointment of Sophie comes hard on the heels of the launch last month of womensweekly.com.au, a stand-alone website that delivers a premium lifestyle experience for consumers. The new website is a strong complement to the dedicated food site womensweeklyfood.com.au, which is home to 14,000 triple tested recipes.
Next year will bring the launch of The Australian Women’s Weekly marketplace, with products specially curated by The Weekly team.
