CRN Executive Editor Jennifer Follett Wins Folio Top Women In Media Award
CRN Executive Editor Jennifer Follett was recognized for her years of commitment to media and the channel, taking home a "Top Women In Media Award" at the Folio event held at the Grand Hyatt in New York on Wednesday.
The Folio awards recognize women who are the "most influential" in the media industry and who are "innovating in new ways and guiding their business into new markets." It honors women across a wide variety of media categories, including corporate visionaries, industry leadership, director-level doers, entrepreneurs, rising stars and mentors.
"We created this program to acknowledge the special role that women play in our profession and, yes, the special challenges they often face in their careers," Folio's Vice President of Content Tony Silber said in a statement. "If we're all ultimately measured by the impact we've had -- the mark we leave, the positive changes we've effected -- then our honorees should feel really proud indeed."
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Follett's award recognizes her contributions as a "director-level doer" to CRN. Her fellow award winners include top journalists and leaders from prestigious news networks around the country, including The New York Times, Time Inc. and CBS.
"I feel so honored to be included among a group of such talented, passionate women," Follett said at the luncheon event. "Getting to meet some of them and hear a little bit about their accomplishments and successes across all facets of the publishing industry was very inspiring for me," she said.
Follett has been with CRN for more than 17 years, the only staffer to have started at the magazine as an editorial assistant. During that time, she has interviewed such prominent industry leaders as Bill Gates, Michael Dell and John Chambers. In her current role as Executive Editor, she oversees a team of 18 reporters and editors, daily coverage on CRN.com, itbestofbreed.com and the CRN Tech News tablet app, as well as a bi-monthly CRN print edition.
"We are proud to see that Folio has recognized Jen's talent and capability, which we have seen her use to help us produce superb editorial products for years," said Robert Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company, CRN's parent company.
In her acceptance speech, Follett challenged the audience to mentor other women within their own organizations, just as she has within The Channel Company. She told CRN that there have been several women that have helped shape her own career, and she said it is important to "give back and do the same for others," both inside and outside of the editorial team.
"The wonderful thing about mentoring is that it’s very much a give-and-take relationship. The mentor can learn as much if not more than the person being mentored," Follett said.
Follett said that she sees this as a strong force throughout the channel, especially at the Women of the Channel events, hosted twice a year by The Channel Company.
"The concept of mentoring is always one that gets strong support at our Women of The Channel events, so I know there are a lot of people in the channel that feel very strongly about the benefits of mentoring, in general, and mentoring women specifically," she said.
In addition to the Folio award, Follett has received a 2008 National Bronze Award for Product Section/Department for CRN Tech and a 2006 TABBIE Silver Award for Technical Article. She is a graduate of Boston University and resides with her family in the Boston area.
PUBLISHED OCT. 2, 2014