- Guest Speakers
Blazing a Trail
"It takes being brave to be authentic." - Elaine Welteroth
To celebrate International Women’s Day this year, Marlborough welcomed author and award-winning journalist Elaine Welteroth to campus. Welteroth is the former Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue (the youngest ever in Conde Nast’s 107-year history), and was the first African-American Beauty Director at the publication when she took on that role in 2012, at only 25 years old.
Students Sophia D. ’19 and Micah P. ’21 led a Q&A with Welteroth during an All-School Meeting of students and employees on March 6. Later that evening, Ileana Diaz ’04, a network news correspondent for CBS News in Los Angeles, led a Q&A with Welteroth for alumnae and parents, during which time they spoke about her career trajectory and advice for the next generation of change makers.
Said Welteroth, "When you are vulnerable and open yourself up to criticism, more than likely what rushes in is support and sisterhood. It takes being brave to be authentic."
Welteroth began her media career as an intern at Ebony Magazine and rose through the ranks of media and fashion, eventually becoming the Beauty & Style Editor at Ebony, then moving on to Glamour, where she was the Senior Beauty Editor before joining Teen Vogue. She has written for the hit show Grown-ish, is a judge for the new Project Runway, and has her first book coming out this summer called More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are. Her book is part-manifesto and part-memoir about what it means to come into your own—on your own terms.
While we fully expected Welteroth’s visit to have a positive impact on our community, it turns out our community also had a huge impact on her. When speaking about Marlborough students, Welteroth said, "What I am energized by is that there is a sense of ownership; they want to tell their own stories and there's room for them to do that. We need that desperately."