Cynthia Leive is the editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine, which reaches more than 12 million readers each month and outsells more than 98 percent of magazines on the newsstand today. Since Leive became editor-in-chief, Glamour’s circulation has risen to its highest level in history with a rate base of 2.25 million, and glamour.com’s site traffic increased by 321 percent after a successful relaunch in September 2008. In 2009, glamour.com emerged as the women’s magazine website industry leader, garnering the highest number of unique visits in the women’s lifestyle category for the first quarter.

Glamour is the most celebrated women’s magazine in America today, having won more than 170 journalism awards. Under Leive, Glamour has received a record number of editorial awards, including a National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2005 (a women’s magazine had not been nominated in over a decade); a National Magazine Award for Personal Service in 2007; and National Magazine Award nominations in other categories for every year from 2005 to present. In 2005 and 2006 Glamour was on Advertising Age’s A-List and Adweek’s Hot List in recognition of its strength in circulation, advertising pages, editorial excellence and industry acclaim. Glamour was named again to Adweek’s Hot List in 2007 and 2008.

Leive is the women’s lifestyle contributor for the TODAY show where she frequently discusses women’s issues ranging from fashion to politics. She serves on the board of directors for The International Women’s Media Foundation and is the ex-president officio of the American Society of Magazine Editors. She is also the author of Glamour’s Big Book of Dos & Don'ts: Fashion Help for Every Woman. A major force in the industry, Leive has been named the “Most Powerful U.S. Fashion Magazine Editor” by Forbes. Crain’s put Leive on its “Top 40 Under 40” list and Gotham magazine named her one of the most powerful women under 40 in New York.

Leive’s work has also been recognized outside the media industry. In 2008 she received a White House Project EPIC Award for publishing In Search of Hope: The Global Diaries of Mariane Pearl. In 2006 she received a Matrix Award from Women in Communications; a Champion of Choice Award from NARAL-NY for her continued coverage of women’s health; and, along with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gloria Steinem, a Lead Her Award from Girls Learn International for her activism in bringing Pakistani heroine Mukhtar Mai to the United States for the first time. She received the 2005 New York Success Is Working Award from Dress for Success, and the Celebration of the Power of Women Award from the NOW Legal Defense Fund.

Prior to joining Glamour in May 2001, Leive served as editor-in-chief of Self magazine. Under her editorship, Self’s circulation increased by 11 percent. Before Self, Leive was deputy editor of Glamour, where she worked for 11 years; there, she devised many of the magazine’s highest-rated features, edited and wrote prize-winning stories, and produced the magazine’s annual Women of the Year Awards.

A graduate of Swarthmore College, Leive began her career in publishing at The Paris Review and The Saturday Review. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, film producer Howard Bernstein, daughter Lucy and son Isaac.