MEDIA MAKER
Ellis Jones (B.A. ’07) is editor of VICE Magazine
MEDIA MAKER
Ellis Jones (B.A. ’07) is editor of VICE Magazine
You might expect the first female editor-in-chief of VICE’s print magazine to be a domineering spitfire, full of one-liners, side-eyeing and devil-may-care promenade, but Ellis Jones is anything but.
Jones sports a blonde bob and peers out from behind her bangs and understated eyeglasses with equal parts grace and certainty. More even-keeled and unassuming than flashy, Jones makes kindness and calm look edgy.
Jones said she was a bit surprised when she was promoted to the helm of the 22-year-old media company’s print product in February 2015, but in the past two years, she has settled into the role.
“If I say yes to something and it’s a disaster, I’ll be taking the blame for it,” Jones said.
But having worked virtually every role within the magazine, Jones has every reason to feel confident about running one of today’s most influential media companies that has its own HBO show and bureaus across the globe.
She began her career with VICE as an intern in 2008, when there were only about 100 employees, and she worked her way up the ladder, remaining with the company for the entirety of her career, save the nine months when she left for the Daily Mail to serve as their U.S. chief of staff. But Jones only had eyes for one publication.
That single-mindedness is a trait she’s always had, and is the same way she wound up as a journalism major at Georgia State. It’s the only school she applied to.
“I didn’t want to go to a big college town,” she said. “That wasn’t the experience I was looking for."
It seems like long ago she was going to shows in Atlanta and her friends called her “Baby Ellis.” In those pre-New York days, she earned her chops writing about music as a freelancer for Creative Loafing (where she also interned).
Nowadays, she walks to VICE’s waterfront office in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn every morning, manages her print team and at any given time has 10 or so New York Times tabs open on her desktop. What she doesn’t care to bother with? Social media. A print-devotee through and through, Jones says she only got a Twitter account because she had to for her job. She’s highly protective of her personal life, preferring to keep her opinions and personality off the Internet.
“I’m afraid I’m going to sound weird or say the wrong things or come off a way that I didn’t mean to,” she said of her social media anxiety.
At the end of the day, she meets up with friends for dinner and drinks or goes home to kick back with a movie and book. She tries to read for 30 minutes before bed every night from a stack on her bedside table that includes titles by Gloria Steinem, Eileen Myles, and Paula Hawkins (author of the recent film-adapted thriller, “The Girl on the Train”).
“Lately I’ve been reading all female writers,” she said.
Those influences show in the magazine’s output since Jones became editor-in-chief last year. Following the magazine’s redesign last March, the annual photo issue in August featured work by all women photographers, and more women’s voices are being heard in the form of artist profiles, investigative dispatches, personal essays and everything in between.
“I like the idea of being able to help females out in their careers,” she said.
At a magazine that once had a reputation for sexism and an output of sometimes lewd and shocking content, these shifts, however subtle, matter, Jones said.
“I think that VICE’s content has changed a lot over the years. If we do something that might be a bit weird or gross, I think there’s a reason for us doing it now,” she said.