sign up now!

submit an article

give feedback

Kristin Perrotta - Editorial Projects Director, Allure

By Erin Upton

In her 12 years with Allure, Kristin Perrotta has not only learned the secrets to lengthening, strengthening and defining her career, but in the process she’s learned to do the very same thing to her eyelashes.

“I have the smallest eyes that just completely disappear in my head,” she laughed.  “Taking a mascara wand and really wiggling it back and forth, wedging it into the base of your lashes and dragging it out past the tips of your lashes - that was a revelation.”

And just one of many eye-opening experiences for Perrotta during her time at Allure.  Now she’s the editorial projects director for the pub, but when she joined Allure in May 1996, she’d had no formal training in journalism aside from writing for her high school newspaper.  She first applied for the job at Allure simply because she enjoyed writing and was a fan of the magazine.

“I very much liked Allure,” Perrotta explained.  “I identified with the voice.  I thought it was really smart and sassy.  I didn’t have, at that point, a real specific interest in beauty.  I always liked Allure but not because I was so into beauty; it just spoke to me.  Naturally, being a part of the beauty department I kind of learned how to put makeup on.”

She quickly learned how to climb the ladder, too.  Starting out as the assistant to the beauty editor, then moving up to associate editor, beauty editor, beauty director, beauty director and deputy editor, editor at large and finally to her current post, Perrotta has held just about every position you could have at Allure.

“It’s been a great place for me so I’ve kind of felt no need to leave,” she said.  “It’s been really wonderful.”

And anything but dull.  That word definitely does not define her career.  One of the things that keeps Perrotta going strong is the fact that there is never a dull moment for her at Allure.

“I never get the opportunity to get bored, because the second I’m bored I can change everything,” she said.

Pitching Tips

Perrotta prefers to receive pitches by e-mail.  If the pitch involves a product, she likes to receive a hard copy of the facts sheet and the product so she can try it.  She said that the staff at Allure will definitely not put products in the magazine that they haven’t tried.

Do not fax or call as Perrotta warned, “If you fax me, I’ll never get the fax.  If you call, I’m really rude.  I rarely have time to return phone calls, so messages end up getting deleted and I hope that person will try some other avenue.  I don’t mean to be rude; it’s just that I run out of time.”

The most important thing to keep in mind when pitching her is to keep it simple.  Press kits are rarely helpful.  “I look at the fact sheet, get the basic info and I completely toss the rest of it.  I feel terrible because someone took the time to really write all of this, but it actually doesn’t help me at all,” she explained.