How Diane Harris transitioned from Money to Considerable

Susan Johnston Taylor interviewed Considerable editorial director Diane Harris about making the transition from being editor of Money magazine to running the personal finance site.

Here is an excerpt:

Tell us about your transition from Money Magazine to Considerable.

Diane Harris: I left Money after 22 years. It definitely was the brand that defined a large part of my career. When I left Money, my intention was to start a personal brand around financial wellness and write a book.

I spent about a year working on that and I loved it. Then, this opportunity dropped in my lap. I took a call with the CEO of Considerable and within the first few minutes of the conversation, I was just immediately taken with the idea that the audience that Considerable is trying to reach is very underserved, that the mission and the vision was something very different and exciting. I was immediately consumed with ideas and enthusiasm for it.

I left Money to finally pursue these dreams and then all of a sudden, another dream appeared in my path and I went for it.

How is editing a brand new website different from editing an existing magazine?

It’s very different to be a start-up than it is to be at a well-established media brand at a legacy media company. It’s very different to be at a brand that is born as a digital brand instead of transitioning to becoming a digital-first brand.

What’s the same is the journalism behind it. Journalism really is journalism in the end and so is the desire to advocate for your audience to understand who they are, what they want, and the information they need to know. All of those different parts of the process that make for a great story ideas and great storytelling, that part is the same, even though the medium and the resources of a start-up versus a legacy media brand are very different.

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