After a long career in Memphis journalism, The Commercial Appeal‘s Leanne Kleinmann — the iDiva herself — will step down from her position as columnist and editor of Skirt! magazine on February 6th. She has been hired by St. Mary’s School, where she will serve as Director of Advancement.
After 15-years with the CA, what prompted the career switch? “St. Mary’s offered me this really incredible job,” says Kleinmann, who is also a former editor of Memphis magazine. After 15 years at The Commercial Appeal, it was time to try something different.
“Of course, I’ll always be a journalist,” she says. “I don’t think I could ever not be a journalist. … After writing [iDiva] for the last four years, I can’t imagine going for a week not writing about what’s going on in Memphis.”
Kleinmann will have a well-established forum for sharing her thoughts. When she leaves, she’ll be taking a little piece of the CA with her.
“The Commercial Appeal is going to let me keep the iDiva blog as my personal website,” she says. “I think I have a pretty authentic voice, so I don’t imagine that the blog will change very much.”
According to Kleinmann, her as-yet-unnamed replacement at Skirt! will be a lucky editor. “It’s a plum job,” she says.
In September 2007, the CA started publishing the Memphis version of Skirt!, a woman’s magazine founded in 1994 in Charleston, South Carolina. Kleinmann was its first editor.
“It’s been a wonderful experience,” Kleinmann says of her time at Skirt, adding that she’s proud of the diversity she’s brought to the magazine. “There are so many women doing things out there who just fall through the cracks.”
— Chris Davis
