34-year-old Indian American Swati Sharma Named Editor of Vox, a Popular News Website
- After turning around the ailing Atlantic magazine as its managing editor, Sharma takes on the new challenge next month.
Vox Media has named Swati Sharma as the new Editor-in-Chief of Vox, a general interest news site.“Sharma joins Vox during a moment of tremendous growth and will oversee its website’s editorial vision as the network reaches wider audiences in more places and in more formats than ever before,” the news media outlet said in a press release announcing the Feb. 16 appointment. Vox says its website reaches nearly 30 million readers each month. Sharma, the managing editor at The Atlantic will start in her new role next month.
The 34-year-old took to Twitter to announce her new role. “Some news: After three amazing years at @TheAtlantic, I am thrilled to take on the role of Editor-in-Chief at@voxdotcom, a publication I have long admired.”
“Throughout her career, Swati has combined a deep respect for great journalism with a profound understanding for audience needs,” said Melissa Bell, co-founder of Vox and publisher of Vox Media. “I’m so excited to have Swati working with Vox during this incredible moment of change for both us and our audiences. She brings an appreciation of Vox’s distinctive journalistic mission and proven experience leading teams to consistently produce their best work.”
Sharma replaces Lauren Williams, who served as Vox’s senior vice president and editor-in-chief. Williams is launching Capital B, a local and national nonprofit news organization serving Black audiences.
“From its inception, Vox has worked to provide a deep understanding of an ever complex and often confusing world. With a still raging pandemic, an overdue and ongoing racial reckoning, and a new Presidential administration, the work is more vital than ever,” Sharma said. “I’m thrilled to join an institution that has strong values and a crucial mission and I’m looking forward to collaborating with the talented team already in place to continue producing work that dissects and illuminates big ideas, challenges long-held perceptions, inspires people to live better lives, and fosters the kind of discussion that leads to real change.”
Sharma joined The Atlantic in January 2018 as a deputy editor, and “guided its digital coverage during some of the most consequential news moments in recent history, overseeing all of the site’s sections,” and “was instrumental in the record growth” of the magazine’s audience,” Vox said in the press release.
Before joining The Atlantic, Sharma spent more than four years at The Washington Post, as Deputy General Assignment Editor and as Foreign and National Security Digital Editor, as per her LinkedIn page.
Earlier in her career, she worked at The Boston Globe, where she coordinated live coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, which was cited in the Globe’s Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. She has a BA in Journalism and Political Science from Northeastern University.
Last November, veteran broadcast producer Chitra Wadhwani has been named the editorial director of Washington Post Live, the newsroom’s live journalism platform. Wadhwani oversees and drive the strategy” for the “Race in America” series, and collaborate closely with the reporters and editors working on it.
In 2017, Radhika Jones became the first woman of color to become editor of Vanity Fair. Jones, succeeded Graydon Carter, who was stepping down from the glossy general-interest magazine after a 25-year run at its helm.