How 'Family Style' Founder Joshua Glass Is Getting a New Generation to Care About Print Magazines

In our long-running series, “How I’m Making It,” we talk to people making a living in the fashion and beauty industries about how they broke in and found success.

Longtime editor Joshua Glass isn’t falling for the “print is dead” propaganda. 

When he launched his magazine Family Style in 2023, friends told him he was crazy. Two years later, Glass debuted Takeaway, a youth-centered fashion and culture zine. Still, his friends thought he was out of his mind. But Glass is not swayed by the naysayers. In fact, he completely understands their apprehension.

“There’s 100% credibility to the [‘print is dead’ concerns],” he tells Fashionista. “It’s true, the industry has changed. I worked at bigger magazines, and I’ve been laid off several times.”

Still, he detected that the problem with print was not a lack of interest in tangible media in general. Rather, readers are hungry for one-of-a-kind storytelling: In a publishing world dominated by algorithm-driven trends, paid reviews, repetitive cover stars and limited creative freedom, the hunger for a fresh point of view is palpable. Glass always wanted to start his own magazine, so when inspiration struck during the pandemic to create Family Style, he got to work.

Naturally, he ran into challenges starting a magazine from scratch: Publicists were hesitant to loan samples; he struggled raising startup money, finding advertisers and acquiring an audience for the new title. But Glass knew he had an excellent magazine in his hands. (How can you go wrong with Chloë Sevigny on the cover of your debut issue?)

“People are craving uniqueness and special content that resonates,” he says. “I think that’s why magazines like Family Style are able to survive. We’re not rolling in dough, excuse my language, but we found people who understand us.”

Below, Glass talks about getting into publishing, his love for Kelly Cutrone, the key to getting a mentor, why he launched two magazines and more.

Tell me about your background. How did you get drawn to the media world?

I always loved magazines. I never really understood why. I’m from Houston, Texas. I grew up with a single mother, and I would say we lived in an affluent community, but she was lower middle class. It was an interesting dichotomy to be surrounded by affluent suburbanites with a lot of money but not great taste, and to have no money and hear and learn about things from afar. I think that was my entry, hearing designer brands being tossed around, but not really understanding the difference between Prada or Louis Vuitton or why all the girls in my high school had a Coach handbag.

I went to NYU to become a filmmaker, and I really hated it. It was just not my thing. […] I thought maybe I would like working in exhibition curation. My first paid internship was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and I absolutely hated it. It was incredibly institutional, and it was very antiquated in the way they approached things.

I got my first full-time job working for Kelly Cutrone at People’s Revolution. I was her assistant. She called me yesterday. We are still quite close. I’ve had a lot of really great, amazing mentors in my life and she’s one of them. […] She introduced me to niche magazines and the whole idea of counter-cultural media. You could work at a magazine that wasn’t Condé Nast or Hearst.

My first magazine job was BlackBook Media, which was a really great crash course into working at a magazine. That propelled me into the rest of the magazines. I worked at some corporate ones and some independent ones. It introduced me to a lot of my other mentors, like Carine Roitfeld. I worked for her for almost seven years at CR Fashion Book. She remains one of my favorite people to work for. She’s incredibly inspiring and trusting.

For aspiring writers or editors, is finding a mentor an important piece to being successful? And how can they go about it?

Yes, but — capital ‘B’ — you can’t just ask someone to be your mentor. People will LinkedIn message me randomly being like, ‘Hey, can you be my mentor?’ That’s not a good way to approach it. Usually, it’s someone who’s a little bit more mature and is working and looking at life from a different perspective. Most mentorships, in my experience, happened organically. 

It’s challenging to get started, but I think some people are maybe too eager to over-network. When you’re thinking about the 20 million things I have to do today, do I really want to spend 45 minutes going across town to get a coffee in midtown with this person that I don’t like? No, it’s a low-priority thing. You have to find common ground; otherwise, both people are less invested.

At what point did you find your voice as a writer?

Very early on. I’m very outspoken, maybe too outspoken, but I worked at this men’s magazine called Essential Homme. It was great because it was so small, and my editor gave me a lot of freedom. I immediately started writing everything, which I think is good and bad. Looking back, I mean, who was I, at 21 [years old], to be going to London to interview James Marsden? This didn’t really make any sense. I almost wish I had a bit more safeguards, but now I feel very confident and comfortable talking to and writing about anyone. 

What inspired you to start Family Style?

The idea of Family Style really matured post-pandemic, when I think everyone fell in love with food culture. I always say we’re not a food magazine, but the food element was a way to put my foot through the door and be like, ‘This is the fresh way to look at culture.’

It took a year and a half to get off the ground. I was able to raise a little bit of money from really smart and thoughtful people. To be transparent, I could have gotten a lot of money, but I would’ve sold my soul away. What I really value with Family Style is my autonomy. If I don’t want to do something, I won’t. 

We’re a year old and it hasn’t gotten easier, but I feel like each day we grow, we are stronger, we are better, we are more established, we’re more respected. The challenges still exist, but in a weird way, it becomes more rewarding, because we’re surviving, which is a lot said.

This year, you launched Takeaway. What pushed you to start a second magazine?

The idea of Takeaway was to be a little bit faster, a little bit more nimble, a little less thought-out in a way. Family Style prides itself on how much we think about it. Everything is really curated and thoughtful. Takeaway is not sloppy by any means, but it feels a little bit more in-the-moment. I wanted Family Style to be more of this enduring book about culture that could live forever, but I also wanted to create something that was a bit more responsive to the media right now, and that’s Takeaway. 

After working at recognized titles like CR Fashion Book and Cultured, how did venturing off on your own at an unknown magazine compare in terms of getting brands and advertisers on board?

It was extremely challenging, and I’m a very emotional and blunt person. Our very first cover story that we ever did for Family Style, we didn’t have a fashion team. I was doing the sample requests with the stylist. We’d email all my friends at luxury brands and they were like, ‘Josh, what is this?’ Listen, I have really good relationships [with publicists], but a lot of luxury brands just by policy don’t participate in first issues, much less advertise. We were fighting for our lives to get a designer [pull]. We weren’t even asking for money at the time. 

When you factor in advertising, and you think of some brands that have advertised in every magazine you worked at and wanted to see how it went with your new magazine, it was extremely challenging. Also because I was taking it all personally, it felt like every time someone said no to Family Style, they were saying no to me. I learned to give myself a little bit more distance, and I also understood that things do take time to percolate. I won’t lie, it still does hurt when something doesn’t go my way. But I’ve been able to let it roll off my back a little bit more. 

When did you notice a shift in brands wanting to work with you?

I distinctly remember when my fashion director, Nathan Klein, and I were in Milan last fall. We had put out two issues and were bringing out the third issue. People were like, ‘Oh my God, we love this magazine.’ And I was like, ‘I know, I’ve been telling you that for a year and a half.’ I got my seats back at all the shows. We got the looks we wanted, and all the brands told us they love our team. Our advertising was increasing. Fall last year was a turning point.

Was there anything that you’ve had to learn or shift your mindset about since stepping into your first Editor-in-Chief and founder role?

I knew a lot about publishing, but having full transparency overall on the financial side and the brand-conversations side [was a learning curve.] There’s a lot of different politics involved with every element of making a magazine.

Creatively, not really. One of the reasons why Family Style and Takeaway is interesting for creatives is that we try to be really creative and open. You’ll notice my title is not creative director, even though I have creative director responsibilities, but that’s because I don’t want photographers or stylists or our directors to feel like they don’t have a voice. We try to give them a lot of freedom to explore. Same with the talent we work with. We really want people to feel comfortable and feel valued.

How would you define the role of an EIC in 2025, and do you think it’s different from what people assume?

1000000%. All my friends who are not in this industry think my life is so fabulous. I’m not saying it’s not, but I think they only think about the nice things that I get to do, which is fashion shows and dinners and trips.

At an independent magazine, and even at some corporate magazines now, an EIC is honestly doing everything. At one point, you were really just top editing or top commissioning, but I’m in the weeds of our Instagram posts, of our website backend, our Shopify store. If I were talking to someone in operations or logistics, I would say my role is a managing director who also does a lot of creative things. I work very closely with all of our photographers and our stylists, but I do a lot of administrative and operations work.

What have you learned from past leaders you’ve worked with that you’ve been able to bring into your current role?

One of my mentors-turned-friends is Stefano Tonchi. He taught me to let people do their job. He gave me so much trust and he only checked in when he felt like he needed to. I would like to bring that [to Family Style and Takeaway] eventually. We’re still so young and growing […] so I am still that overarching parent who’s pushing their child to the slide. Once we find a bit more stability and more longevity, I have a great team and I am sure I will be able to give more trust. 

What do you look for in a new hire, and does that differentiate between each title?

Everyone does everything here. We don’t necessarily have people only on Family Style or only Takeaway people. Even though they’re two very different magazines and brands, they share a few important qualities: intelligence, ambition and a point of view. Those are all qualities I look for on our team. Whether you’re a 40-year-old freelance writer or a 27-year-old junior editor, I need that hunger, that interest, that curiosity. 

What are your future goals for your magazines? 

I think Takeaway will have a very different path than Family Style, but what I’m most excited for is that there are fewer rules around it because the generation we’re speaking to is so open and curious and fun and less serious in a way. With Family Style, every issue gets better and better. It’s not going to evolve so much. The brand is very strong, so it’s more about how we can continue storytelling and bring that amazing experience from print to our website.

What excites you about the state of fashion media right now?

For one thing, everyone is friendly. That historically is not the case. For the most part, most writers, most editors, most EICs are friends.

I’m also happy that media, overall, has recognized that print is important. For years, it was all dot-com everything. We realize that people consume content in a different way […] so we’re packaging and approaching content differently. We’re in a different kind of industry that’s more progressive, that is more friendly, that is more inclusive, that’s just more pleasant to be around.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I would tell myself to try not to overthink as much. I manically plan and perfect in my head. It’s like my road is quite clear and if something goes off path, I spiral. What I’ve learned through Family Style, Takeaway and just life is, there are so many things that you can’t prepare for, you can’t have a solution for, and it’s terrible, but that is what life is. Whether you are running a small business or you’re just a human being, a lot of rejections hurt, but they’re not all-powerful. It’s okay to not get that job. It’s okay to not get that interview. It’s okay not to get that advertisement. Something else will come along, maybe not for a year, but I do believe things even out.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Source: Fashionista.com