When Jane Pratt reflects on her tenure as the editor-in-chief of Sassy, a teen magazine she founded at the age of 24, chewing gum is one of the first things that comes to mind.
Pratt, now 61, did a lot of press to promote Sassy’s debut in 1988. At the time, it was on-track to become one of the most widely circulated magazines of the era with her as its enterprising-yet-edgy, fresh-faced leader. Photographers would ask Pratt to sit cross-legged on a desk and blow bubbles with bright pink gum. It underscored her age while ever-so-slightly undercutting her success; she was being praised as an early innovator while being styled like she’d stumbled into her success. Whatever the intent of the images, what captured the collective gaze was Pratt's enviable accomplishments so early in life. That having it all was fun. It was something worth staring at.
