chosen to replace Alexi McCammond as Teen Vogue’s Editor in Chief. After the previous editor in chief came under fire for the flurry of past anti-Asian and homophobic social media controversy, Sharma was hired. Sharma takes over the position of editor in chief of the digital-only publication on May 24th after McCammond and the Conde Nast title decided to go their separate ways before her appointment became effective. Sharma said in a statement released by Teen Vogue that she has long respected the publication for cultivating a culture of young people who want to make a difference in the world.
The 27-year-old McCammond, who is Black, was named the new editor-in-chief in March to succeed Lindsay Peoples Wagner. However, offensive tweets during her teenage and college days in 2011 sparked outrage after her appointment was confirmed. Over 20 Teen Vogue employees took the issue to management supporting readers and others disturbed by the now-deleted controversial tweets, urging the magazine to replace McCammond. They pointed out that the appointment of McCammond happened during a time of historically high anti-Asian crime and ongoing LGBTQ community struggles. Before naming McCammond, Teen Vogue was aware of the tweets.
Sharma is the daughter of Indian immigrants and grew up in Louisiana and now lives in New York. In 2015, Sharma was promoted to managing editor of the digital news site, NowThis. She worked for MSNBC.com in 2012, covering the general election in the United States. She is one of the board of directors of the Online News Association and the beneficiary of the Edward R. Murrow award with the NowThis Reports group for a short documentary about the repercussions of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
