Vanessa KingoriMBE is the Publishing Director of British Vogue. Prior to that, Kingori was the Publisher of British GQ across all platforms. Kingori has worked for media publishing house, Condé Nast UK for nine years.
Life
Kingori was born in Kenya, initially educated on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts before moving permanently to London to complete her education. Kingori went to the Royal Holloway College of the University of London. She worked on the London Evening Standard and then at Esquire. In September 2017, she was appointed Publishing Director of all British Vogue platforms. This makes Kingori the first female publisher of the company's flagship brand in its over 100-year history. Kingori is the first person of colour in the role and Condé Nast UK's youngest serving Publishing Director. Kingori began her role as Publishing Director of British Vogue in January 2018. In March 2015, she was appointed Publisher of British GQ across all platforms. At GQ, Kingori gave particular focus to building the brand's digital fortunes whilst simultaneously growing and maintaining the print elements of the GQ portfolio. 2016 marked her first full year as Publisher and GQ’s most successful year of revenue generation of the last decade. After significant changes in management, restructuring the largely print heritage team, digital revenue performance peaked, up 115% year on year. GQ won several digital commercial awards in her tenure.
Social Influence
Kingori has a keen interest in youth development and in her role as Visiting Fellow at the University of the Arts London. Kingori sits on several boards and is a regular public speaker. She has sat on the judging panel of the Black British Business Awards since 2015. Kingori has been listed as one of the 'UK's Most Influential Black Britons' by the Powerlist magazine every year for the last five years. In January 2017, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan announced Kingori's appointment to his Brexit Advisory Panel, a board of London-based business leaders upon whom the Mayor calls for advice on the challenges and opportunities following the vote to leave the European Union.
Awards
Kingori was awarded an MBE on the Queen's 90th Birthday Honours Lists, 2016. In the same year, she was awarded 2016's 'Leader in Luxury' at the Walpole British Luxury awards. Kingori was awarded the 'Media Mogul of the Year' award at the 2017 Black Magic Awards. In May 2018, Kingori was listed as second on the Financial Times 'EMpower 100 Ethic Minority Leaders' list. In May 2018, Kingori was awarded a Best of Africa Special Award. In July 2018, Kingori was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from University of the Arts London. In July 2018, Kingori was placed onto The FemaleFTSE Board Report 2018 '100 Women to Watch' list by Cranfield University. From 2013–2018, Kingori has been listed as one of the 'UK's Most Influential Black Britons' by the Powerlist magazine every year.
