Farrah Storr

Farrah Storr MBE
Born	(1978-11-08) 8 November 1978 (age 46) Manchester, England
Alma mater	King's College London
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	2001–present
Title	Editor of Elle (UK)

Farrah Storr MBE (born 8 November 1978)^[1] is a British journalist, and the editor of the UK edition of Elle. She previously worked on several UK magazines, winning a PPA Award and a BSME Award in 2018 as editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan. Storr wrote The Discomfort Zone in 2018.

Career

Storr's first job was working on Women and Home, at age 23. She moved onto Good Housekeeping, then Eve and then Glamour.^[2] Storr has been features editor of Marie Claire and deputy editor of Top Santé. Storr launched the UK edition of Women's Health.^[3][4]

A 2017 report by The Guardian and Operation Black Vote listed Storr as one of the 1000 most powerful people in the United Kingdom, making her one of seven BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) women to be included on the list.^[3]

Storr became editor of the UK edition of Cosmopolitan in July 2015.^[5] Storr sparked controversy by choosing plus-size model Tess Holliday for the front cover of the magazine, with some people viewing the move as glorification of obesity, and Piers Morgan calling it "dangerous and misguided". Storr appeared on Good Morning Britain, which Morgan co-hosts, and argued that Holliday was chosen to "explain that there is a different way to look" in "a culture which venerates being thin".^[6][7] For her work in editing Cosmopolitan, Storr won 2018 Editor of the Year categories in the Professional Publishers Association (PPA) Awards and the British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) Awards.^[8] She was also nominated for the Editors' Editor of the Year Award in the 2018 BSME Awards.^[9]

In 2018, Storr wrote The Discomfort Zone: How To Get What You Want by Living Fearlessly. The book includes personal memoirs, interviews and scientific content, linked by the theme of achieving personal growth by spending time in the "discomfort zone". It was published by Piatkus.^[5][10]

In April 2019, it was announced that Storr would be moving from Cosmpolitan to its sister magazine Elle, where she held the same role of editor-in-chief.^[11][8]

Personal life

Storr's father Javed Iqbal Butt is Pakistani, and was born in Amritsar, India. Storr grew up in Manchester,^[4] and has three siblings.^[12] Storr was educated at Bury Grammar School (Girls) and graduated with a BA in English and French Literature from King's College London.^[1][2][13] She is married to fellow journalist Will Storr.^[14]

References

1. 2018 "Storr, Farrah, (born 8 Nov. 1978), Editor-in-Chief, Cosmopolitan, since 2015." WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 4 Dec. 2018
2. Koman, Tess (12 January 2016). "What It's Like to Be the Editor of Cosmo U.K." Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
3. Noor, Poppy (24 September 2017). "Who are the 36 BAME people among the UK's 1,000 most powerful?". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
4. Pizzey, Rebecca (18 June 2018). "Meet the woman running the world's leading female media brand". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
5. Cowdrey, Katherine (20 April 2018). "Cosmo editor Storr pens first book on 'discomfort zone'". The Bookseller. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
6. Sporn, Natasha (3 September 2018). "Piers Morgan returns to Good Morning Britain in fiery debate with Cosmopolitan editor Farrah Storr over Tess Holliday cover". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
7. Hosie, Rachel (3 September 2018). "Cosmopolitan Editor Farrah Storr Defends Decision to Put Tess Holliday on Magazine Cover". The Independent. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
8. Oakes, Omar (11 April 2019). "Cosmo UK editor Farrah Storr moves to Elle". Campaign. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
9. "2018 BSME Awards Shortlist". British Society of Magazine Editors. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
10. "Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Farrah Storr writes book about our "discomfort zone"". The Times of India. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
11. Walker, James (12 April 2019). "Cosmopolitan UK editor Farrah Storr moves to top job at Elle UK". Press Gazette. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
12. Storr, Farrah (10 June 2017). "The Cosmo editor who doesn't do cleavage (any more)". The Times. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
13. "Farrah Storr Recommends". InTouch. King's College London. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
14. "What love feels like...when you're childless". 4 May 2015.