It was a closely kept secret. NDA’s were signed.
Only then could PEOPLE Editor-in-Chief and General Manager Charlotte Triggs chat about the brand’s latest issue featuring Anne Hathaway ahead of its release with Karen Finerman for an episode of How She Does It. The “World’s Most Beautiful” issue is one of two major tentpoles for the brand. The other is their “Sexiest Man Alive” issue. And all the planning and decision-making around who gets those honors starts with Triggs, who has been at the helm since early 2025.
Behind The Cover
“This was my far and away number one choice. And I almost can’t believe that it came through,” Charlotte Triggs said of Anne Hathaway’s selection for this cover.
Locking this decision in was something Triggs has pushed her team to focus on much earlier than in previous years. She recognized that they’re competing with magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair for this kind of star-powered cover.
Triggs admits part of the selection method is practical, and timing is a factor. They try to determine who is likely to be open to doing a big press interview and photo shoot. “I’m looking at what movies are going to come out. I’m looking at what’s likely to be happening around April and May. I realized the ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ was coming out, and I was like, ” Oh my God,” recalls Triggs.
Hathaway, who has five movies being released this year, exemplifies what PEOPLE, across its 52 years, has always tried to capture: Who are folks talking about? Who is in the zeitgeist? When it comes to pop culture, what do I need to know?
Reporting From the Front Lines of Pop Culture
Charlotte Triggs joined PEOPLE right after college, thanks to an internship she landed via the American Society of Magazine Editors. In a real ” Sliding Doors ” moment, Triggs could have been assigned to any number of magazines, including, as she jokes, Field & Stream. She admits she would have been much less likely to have built a career there. She’s just not that into fishing.
But PEOPLE felt like a perfect fit.
“My first assignment was to research a package on ‘90s stars. Where are they now?” she recalls. “I approached it as if it were my dissertation … and it was just fun. I realized, this is an actual job, and this is actual content that people are going to then read and enjoy.”
It was a welcome discovery. Her first love was ballet, which Triggs pursued seriously for some time before concluding that it was not meant to be.
“It’s a cutthroat industry, and if you’re not the very best, it’s going to be hard to get a job in that business,” recalled Triggs. That said, she believes her years studying dance have served her well.
“[Ballet is] a stressful environment. I had Russian teachers. My joke is, you know, I’ve had people in the business world tell me they’re impressed by how much pressure I can handle. And I was like, I was trained by the Russians!” she recalls, laughing.
Building a Career in a Changing Landscape
The PEOPLE Charlotte Triggs oversees today are much different than the ones she first joined 20+ years ago. The economics have changed, print sales across the industry have declined, and there’s a bigger emphasis on digital. Triggs, who took over in early 2025, is the first Editor-in-Chief to have both print and digital under one reporting structure.
As PEOPLE adjusted to the times, so did Triggs. Over the years, she’s reported and edited across a variety of content. She’s written for the Style section, covered the plastic surgery beat, produced their podcast, and took a promotion on the digital side when it was seen as less important than the print side.
“At different points in my career, I’ve tried to assess: what do I think is next for me?” Triggs said. “And it’s not always obvious, and then I try to think, okay, if I want to do that, what is the skill gap? What’s the thing that I don’t have that I need to learn?”
The other big piece of advice that guided her career was to ask for what you want.
“I’ve basically done that at every step of the way,” Triggs recalls. “I would say, oh, I see that this person who is at the title above me just decided to leave and take another job. I think I could do that. Can I have it?”
Working Mom’s Not-Always-Glamorous Life
The job of Editor-In-Chief gives Triggs a front row seat to pop culture, whether it’s a sit-down chat with Anne Hathaway or attending the Grammy Awards Red Carpet. But she’s quick to point out, awards shows are not always as glamorous as they may seem.
“We produce a live Red-Carpet pre-show, and then we’ve got clients with us, and it’s like on Grammys night, I’m not actually thinking about having fun. I’m laser-focused on how much there is for us to do,” Triggs said.
On those occasions, her job does take her away from her family. Triggs and her husband are raising three daughters in New Jersey. Their oldest is 11, and they have 9-year-old twins. That said, her kids have seen the perks of being the daughter of PEOPLE’s Editor-In-Chief. They got to meet 2025’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” Jonathan Bailey, at a special screening of Wicked: For Good.
The Next Big Issue: “Sexiest Man Alive”
PEOPLE’s next event issue, the “Sexiest Man Alive,” will be revealed in late October. The franchise, which began with Mel Gibson in 1985, has seen Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, and Richard Gere each receive the honor twice.
“I was an intern in 2004, and then I started full-time in 2005. My first SMA was Matthew McConaughey,” recalls Triggs.
And true to her desire to have her team work further ahead on major issues, Triggs confirmed she already knows who this year’s cover man will be.
“I’ve got it picked… and it’s exciting. And I got my daughters’ opinion on a handful of different people, and it helped crystallize which direction we want to go in,” Triggs said.
Let the countdown begin.
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