Advertisements:

Jane Pratt made a name for herself as the founding editor of both Sassy and Jane magazines. She was born on November 11, 1962 in San Francisco, California, but raised in Durham, North Carolina and attended Ohio's Oberlin College in, where she received a degree in Communications, with a minor in Modern Dance.

After graduation, she catapulted into publishing with internships at RollingStone magazine and Sportstyle, a now defunct Fairchild publication. Pratt landed her first job as assistant editor of McCall's and in 1986, became an associate editor at Teenage Magazine.

At 24-years-young, Pratt became the founding editor of Sassy, a magazine for teenage girls. The unparalleled success of Sassy led Pratt to host two talk shows, one on FOX and one on LIFETIME, neither of which were very successful. Pratt was also a frequent contributor to VH-1 and EXTRA, where she interviewed celebrities like personalities as Madonna, Michael Jackson and Drew Barrymore.

Pratt has also penned two books, For Real: The Uncensored Truth About America's Teenagers (Hyperion, September 1995) and BEYOND BEAUTY: Girls Speak Out on Looks, Style and Stereotypes. In 1994, after Sassy was bought-out by Peterson Publishing, Pratt along with several former Sassy staffers formed Jane, a lifestyle magazine for women 18 to 34, which debuted a short three years later.

Pratt was named Editor of the Year in 2002 by Adweek Magazine. On July 25, 2005, Pratt resigned from her position as editor in chief of Jane and would be leaving the company on September 30, 2005. Brandon Holley, formerly of ElleGirl magazine, was named her successor.

Pratt is married to actor and writer Andrew Shaifer and the couple have a daughter, Charlotte.