Bon Appétit and Epicurious' Dawn Davis shares the secrets to her success

Dawn Davis, the Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appétit and Epicurious, spoke to The Cut about how she juggles life and gets everything done – from managing a big team to being a working mom.

"I firmly believe you need the time to regenerate and to be creative. You need some downtime; that’s where the ideas come from," Davis told The Cut.

On her work, Davis said: "I run two brands, Epicurious and Bon Appétit. We have print for Bon Appétit as well as video and digital and podcasts, and Epicurious is video and digital. At any moment, one of these initiatives will have something that is a priority. I have a great team that helps me prioritize. At the end of every day, my assistant and I will go over the to-do list and figure out what things we can cross off and what things we need to carry on to the next day."

On how she engages with her team and the importance of dedicating time to them, she said: "I like to have time on the calendar when people can see me on the immediate team. We call those my “office hours,” and that’s always free every day for half an hour. We also try to book at least an hour where I’m not responding to email and am actually generating ideas. Then we try to keep Fridays as a time when I can listen to outside pitches and outside collaborators. It’s important because otherwise we can get in a loop of responding to each other."

On what brings her joy in her role, Davis said: "I love it when I hear that the content is resonating whether that’s a recipe or perspective on food or even a travel story. Or when people say, “Oh, I ate there. That restaurant was perfect.” I feel like we are doing what we set out to do, which is to be a trustworthy source for information around food recipes and people in the restaurant industry."

This article was published by The Cut on 28 February, 2022. Read it here.