Claudia Canavan was the Health & Wellness Director at Hearst UK when this episode was recorded. She oversaw the content and editorial strategy across several of the publisher’s flagship magazines, including Women's Health and Men's Health. In this interview she mainly focused on Women’s Health, but if you’re keen to pitch a wellness story to another health title, the advice is very transferable. Especially as she now actually works at New Scientist magazine, as Head of Features. We spoke last year, so expect some 2024 references, but all Claudia’s advice is still worth heeding. She’s a strong advocate for inclusive storytelling and speaks movingly about how the best part of her job is helping readers with little known health conditions feel less alone. After this interview you’ll feel less alone too, because she tells you how to catch her eye in her bin fire of an inbox and what franchise to pitch into if you don’t have much experience or many bylines to your name. You’ll also learn everything you need to know about the Women’s Health annual content calendar and how it influences what they commission, how to take dry data and make it into a human story that people want to read, and what skills to develop for a media career with longevity. 

Claudia Canavan, Former Health & Wellness Director at Hearst UK, Women’s Health

Claudia is a journalist and editor, specialising in health. She currently serves as Head of Features at New Scientist, leading a team of seven. Previously, she worked in various roles at Women's and Men's Health magazines, ultimately becoming Health + Wellness Director across both brands.

She commissions, edits and writes about topics like the new science of advanced meditation, what the psychedelic renaissance means for women, the happiness potential of less conventional relationships and why the ketamine therapy bubble burst.

While working at HuffPost UK she founded the sustainable living microsite HuffPost Sourced. This was after being selected via a company-wide pitch process to launch a new sub-brand. Prior to this, she was Digital Living Editor at Red, and on the online team at Esquire, before that.

She’s well-versed in hosting. Recent work includes hosting a debate between ‘The Body Keeps the Score’ author and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, neurobiologist Gina Rippon and physician-scientist John Ioannidis on the current medical paradigm at 2024's How The Light Gets In festival, as well as a conversation with legendary psychotherapist Susie Orbach. She moderated a panel on psychedelic clinical practice at 2024's Breaking Convention and another on therapy for eating disorders at the 2023 PSYCH Symposium conference. She’s been invited to speak about female health issues on the radio, including on Jane Garvey and Fi Glover's Times Radio show, and is regularly asked to appear on panels as an expert on women's health, including at branding agency Pearlfisher's 'Deconstructing Wellness event'.

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Kelly Bowerbank is a digital journalist, editor and content strategist with 16 years’ experience in the lifestyle sector. She has worked for multiple high-profile media brands, including woman&home, Marie Claire, The Stylist Group, and The Guardian. She has over eight years' experience crafting editorial strategies and leading teams, and has spent more than a decade commissioning, editing and creating content in various formats across a diverse range of subject verticals. In 2013 she was nominated for New Section Editor of the year at the PPA awards, and in 2020 she was nominated for Digital Editor of the year at the AOP awards. She’s mentored experienced print journalists and trained graduates into award-winning digital writers. In 2022 she stepped down from her role of Global Editor at womanandhome.com to go freelance and write more. She’s represented by Anna Pallai at AMP Literary. 

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