Janet Mock Clarifies New Role at Marie Claire, Won’t Be ‘Trans Correspondent’

By Jamilah King Jul 22, 2014

Janet Mock made news this week when it was announced that she’d accepted an offer to become a contributing editor at Marie Claire. So what, exactly, does that mean? Mock explained to Poynter

"I’ll also give my perspective on beauty, and pop culture, and politics, and not just be thrown into a corner as the trans correspondent," Mock said in a phone interview. Editor-in-Chief Anne Fulenwider said that Mock will be writing about her own experiences but won’t be limited to them. She was drawn to Mock, she said, because she’s a "phenomenal writer, speaker and thinker."

"I’m certainly not discounting her transgender identity; I think that’s really important and that’s what makes it so topical right now and what’s given it a lot of attention," Fulenwider said, "but at the center of this is the story of a woman finding herself, and those are the stories that really resonate with young women."

Mock’s first piece in her new role will be a personal account of the women and girls she’s met while on the road promoting her memoir "Redefining Realness." It’ll appear in the magazine’s print issue this fall.