Have often considered writing about Hillary: Tina Brown

In the world of print journalism, few editors have enjoyed the kind of global celebrity status that Tina Brown has. After an education at Oxford, Tina became the editor-in-chief of the British publication Tatler, at the age of just 25. Since then, she’s headed publications like Vanity Fair and New Yorker, launched the news website The Daily Beast and was even the editor of Newsweek magazine for a while.

In recent years, however, Tina has been known more for her impactful Women In The World summits. Bringing together notable women, including Hillary Clinton, Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep, the WITW summit has only gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2010, and this month, Tina brings it to India for the first time. The summit, to be held from November 20 onwards, brings together Cate Blanchett, Smriti Irani, Naina Lal Kidwai, Deepa Mehta, Madhuri Dixit and many others. Telling us why she’s bringing the WITW summit to India, Tina wrote to us over email, “I have always wanted to bring Women in the World to India because I’ve been coming to India for years and am fascinated by the complexity, the richness of this country and the stimulating intellectual life... And at this particular moment, India is one of the most exciting places having the gender debate in the world because there are more Indian female success stories than ever before, professional women soaring to the top of banking, legal and tech and biotech and media, but there’s also roiling debate about women’s safety, about violence, about the need now to address inequities, the tussle between traditionalism and modernism, retaining women in the workforce so they can also raise families but at the same time surge ahead. All these conversations are also really very global conversations.”

WITW India will start off with a panel featuring Naina Lal Kidwai, Ipsita Dasgupta, Barkha Dutt and Padmasree Warrior talking about the challenges of retaining women in the workforce and what battles still need to be fought. Tina will follow that up with interviews with HRD minister Smriti Irani and Cate Blanchett. Another noted figure at the summit will be the US’ ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.

Tina said that each of the WITW summits she has hosted has had their own exciting regional vibe, but what’s been common to them all, is the coming together of the “most fascinating women on stage, women with remarkable personal stories”. “In India, we will be bringing two amazing women — one Israeli, one Palestinian — who have both lost sons in the conflict, but now are united in campaigning for peace. We will have a husband and wife who are Rohingya refugees from Burma now living in Delhi, telling the story of their escape from Buddhist persecution. And then we have senator Sherry Rehman from Pakistan who has risked her life during her career, standing up for liberal values there,” Tina said.

Tina’s previously expressed the belief that people care about stories, not issues; and some very compelling stories will be heard at the summit in India. Among these, will be the especially moving narrative of a young woman from UP who was gang-raped by four upper-caste men, but who’s fought back with a brave demand for justice. A domestic worker who went to Saudi Arabia in search of a better life for herself and her family, but was ill-treated by her employer instead, will also be present. And on the cultural front, the team of Fire — director Deepa Mehta and actors Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das — will reunite 20 years after their film was the subject of much uproar.

“What we try and do at the summit is tell stories that illuminate an issue and the people seeking solutions for those issues ” Tina explained. “We want to bring alive an India brimming with change and crackling with contradictions, to stimulate debate. And also to bring stories from elsewhere that have their own resonance here. Whether it’s the panel on domestic violence or women juggling the conflicts of work and family or the refugee crisis or something else they are personally passionate about — the important thing is that conversation is being sparked.”

While the summit will certainly be foremost on Tina’s agenda once she’s in India, she told us that she will be making time for a visit to the Taj Mahal. “I’ve travelled a number of times to India, but I’ve never been to the Taj Mahal! So our whole team and I are taking a bus there on the Saturday after the summit, leaving at 4 in the morning to beat the traffic! And then I have accumulated some wonderful friends I can’t wait to see in both Mumbai and Delhi!” she said.

While Women in the World has brought together many achievers, Tina’s own accomplishments are as fascinating as the women she interviews. She’s credited with raising the circulations of Tatler and Vanity Fair many times over when she took over. At The New Yorker, she was seen as a “polarising” figure, but one who brought the magazine firmly into the modern age, and considerably reduced its losses. At The Daily Beast and Newsweek, her legacy is more difficult to define.

But no matter which publication she was heading (or how that experience ended), Tina told us she always took away some vital lessons: “I learned how to build powerful journalism brands that continue to grow long after I left because of the strong teams we put in place — Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The Daily Beast are all still filled with the people I hired You should never give up spotting talent and figuring out how to develop new young voices. Mostly it’s also about staying passionately curious. Feeling I just MUST learn more about a story that caught my eye and not resting till you have fleshed it out with new truths and insights. An editor must always listen to ideas from anyone and everyone — some of the best stories come from accidental encounters,” she said.

Her experiences in journalism will soon be available in the form of her memoirs, titled Media Beast. It’s supposed to be out in 2016, and Tina shared that she’s been busy working on it. “Luckily, I kept a detailed diary all through the Vanity Fair years, but unluckily, it means I have so much material it’s taking me longer than I wanted,” she told us.

And is her autobiography all Tina will be writing After all, her book on Princess Diana (The Diana Chronicles, a movie version is now being worked on for TV) was quite the bestseller. Tina said that she would consider writing another biography — and that Hillary Clinton’s story has been one she’s often considered narrating. “But Women in the World and my own memoir have been too time consuming,” she rued.

Even as she juggles her writing with organising the WITW summits and many other commitments, she makes it a point to be there for her family as well (Tina has two children with her husband of 34 years, Sir Harold Evans, the famed British editor). In the years when she headed various publications, Tina would get home in time for dinner and then station herself by the fax machine post-midnight. Now, the family heads off to their Long Island home whenever they want together-time, light a fire and catch up. “My husband and I are both workaholics though ” Tina told us. “Loving our work, we tend not to see it as a chore to be at our computers after hours. My wheels are always turning. I’m always reading or writing or working on a new project or engaging with friends — that’s what keeps me going.”