Anna Walsh, Director of Editorial Operations, Texas Monthly

Celebrating a Culture Through Storytelling

They say everything is bigger in Texas, even the impact of Texas Monthly, whose nickname, Anna Walsh (DC 2013) points out, is “the national magazine of Texas.”

“It’s a cheeky nod to the fact that Texas was, at one point, its own country, and Texans won't let you forget that,” she says. “It’s also a nod to the outsize importance that Texas has on the economy, the politics and the cultural imagination of the U.S.”

As the director of editorial operations at a top regional monthly magazine, Anna empowers other journalists to tell the stories of a diverse, colorful state while navigating modern media challenges. Texas Monthly is more than a print magazine, with web content, podcasts, books and video content, too.

“What I love about being a magazine in particular is that we don't have to just capture the day-to-day news. We can take a step back and help people understand something bigger about this place through storytelling,” she says. “We're sharing people’s stories with the goal of exploring the complexities of what it means to be a Texan.”

Before Texas Monthly, she worked at publications including the Washington Post, Baltimore City Paper and, of course, The Tartan while studying professional writing at CMU. After quickly rising to senior management in journalism, she was selected for the Poynter Institute’s competitive Leadership Academy for Women in Media, which provides managerial and strategic training.

Anna works to give back to younger journalists in the field through mentoring.

“It’s something we owe to younger people trying to navigate their way into an ever-changing industry because if anyone is passionate enough about journalism to want it to be their career, I think they deserve help to figure it out,” she says.

Story by Elizabeth Speed