O Positive - O, The Oprah Magazine, profile - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek, March 5, 2001 by Noreen O'Leary

In July, Gross succeeded launch editor Ellen Kunes, who resigned after O's third issue. She left amid staff turnover reportedly due to the frustration and pressure of trying to please both sides of the Hearst-Harpo partnership. Founding publisher Alyce Alston also left after the third issue.

Gross reportedly shares Winfrey's exacting standards and came well prepared to collaborate with the Chicago-based personality, having worked for another magazine founder with a strong point of view, Grace Mirabella. She also has explored her own personal-growth paths, attending a couple of three-month, silence-only Buddhist retreats. When she began to interview for the O job, she was about to enroll at New York University for a master's degree in psychology.

In her first meeting with Winfrey, before she landed the job, Gross says they both agreed on what was wrong with the magazine. "The writing was uneven," she recalls. "We wanted it more consistent. I wanted the images to be larger. Oprah likes pictures that bleed off the page and are in-your-face. She doesn't like pictures that are cold, Nordic, edgy."

Under Gross' direction, the magazine's core mix of advice, spirituality, beauty, fashion, health, lifestyle and fitness remains intact. An O staple is Winfrey's interviews with inspirational figures from Maya Angelou and Elie Wiesel to Jane Fonda and Martha Stewart. Winfrey also writes a column called "What I Know for Sure," in which she offers her feelings on various personal-growth issues.

Winfrey, whose face has made other magazines big sellers, has appeared on every cover of O. Shot by the likes of Patrick Demarchelier, Winfrey decides what she wants to wear for the lush shots and where she will be photographed. Gross says there are no concerns about institutionalizing the magazine's cover around Winfrey's visage, and there are no plans to change. "It's simple: When you put Qprah on the cover, you sell more," she says.

When Oprah appeared on the November cover in a ruby-colored Gianfranco Ferre gown, Ferre was swamped with orders from women of all sizes, from all over the country. It's that immediate bond with readers that's fueling O's success. The magazine's editors make no apologies for features like "portable inspiration" quotations, journal-like writing exercises and good-deed checklists, which all help create that emotional link.

Says Ellen Levine, the editor of Good Housekeeping and O's editorial consultant: "You either like that stuff or you don't. They're connections; sometimes they serve as inspiration, sometimes as reminders. New York media people are skeptical about anything that is attached to emotion. But they don't get it. They're out of touch with mass America."

Manhattan-based Gross stays in touch with her heartland editor, Winfrey, by talking on the phone at least once a week, and they e-mail every day. As an issue closes, Winfrey is sent pages every night.

"Those stories about Oprah being a micromanager aren't true," offers Gross. "She might object to an image of a model looking too thin, but she's not telling me how to edit." (O's fashion spreads do tend to use svelte models.)