Lucire officially announces print editor-in-chief
Lucire officially announces print edition editor-in-chief, Nicola Brockie
From New Zealand via the Al Fayed family and back
Auckland and Wellington, July 28 (JY&A Media) Nicola Brockie, Lucire’s Australasian beauty editor, will edit the print edition of the magazine débuting in New Zealand on October 4, 2004, announced Jack Yan, its founding publisher, today. A free August issue goes online today at www.lucire.com.
Miss Brockie is a Greasepaint-trained make-up artist and beauty expert who, according to Mr Yan, fits in to the magazine’s ‘well travelled girl’ (WTG) target market.
The WTG is a girl who has been around the world and back, she knows what she wants and how to get it, and is successful in her chosen field—or she can be a girl who aspires to this lifestyle.
Miss Brockie is clearly the former: she squeezes in as much as she can from each moment and has a rich, varied history.
That story begins in Wellington, New Zealand and has taken her back there, but in her time abroad she worked for numerous fashion and beauty interests.
Amongst her former employers was the Al Fayed family, which controls the House of Fraser group that owns Harrods, London.
Nicola speaks highly of her time working and living with both the late Dodi Al Fayed as one of his last personal assistants, and his father, Mohammed Al Fayed, and is extremely protective of their privacy.
‘They were fantastic people who took me under their wing when I was so far away from home and welcomed me into their family and working environment.
‘I am proud to say they have been such a large part of my life in the past seven years,’ she says. ‘The media unnecessarily gave them a hard time and it was sad to see how that pressure can affect people in their private lives.’
After her time in Europe and the United States, Miss Brockie headed back to New Zealand to see if there were potential business ventures which could use her international expertise.
However, she found that many businesses had not developed much in her years away, and despite advances by some pioneers, many organizational practices remained rooted in a regional, insular philosophy.
That was to change in mid-2003.
Head-hunted
Publisher Jack Yan was on the look-out for an additional beauty editor to cover the southern hemisphere scene when it became apparent that Lucire, the world's leading online-only fashion site at www.lucire.com, could become a print title in 2003.
‘They talk about the six degrees of separation,’ he says.
Mr Yan recollects that he heard about Miss Brockie when holidaying on the Riviera.
‘It was fascinating to hear from two French friends near Monaco talking about this New Zealander who was also a beauty expert, especially after the crazy journey I had driving in from Italy,’ he says. ‘It’s the last subject you expect to hear when tourists would be talking about Princess Grace or gambling.’
Those friends turned out to be mutual acquaintances.
They set up a meeting on the internet and met on his return. Miss Brockie originally covered some of the beauty scene at last year’s L’Oréal New Zealand Fashion Week.
Since then, she has worked on the two print editions that have been distributed online to date, on the first as Australasian beauty editor as on the web edition, and the second as its editor-in-chief.
In addition, she and Lucire style editor Wendy Henderson run Style Intelligence, a make-up and style consultancy that brings a contemporary and fun approach to the areas.
Miss Brockie is now working on the public launch issue which will make its début at an Auckland event on October 4.
Interview requests for Nicola Brockie
Interview
requests about Miss Brockie should be directed at her
personally; for enquiries about exclusives with Miss
Brockie, please email Mr Yan at the address below.