Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global Names Marina Khidekel Editorial Director
Thrive Global, Arianna Huffington’s mindfulness and anti-corporate burnout culture company, has named Marina Khidekel editorial director. Khidekel’s hire is part of a wave of expansion of Huffington’s company. Last month, Thrive announced three executive level hires, including Condé Nast’s Ann Sachs, who was tapped to be Thrive Global’s chief content officer.
“One of my deepest beliefs, which is at the heart of Thrive Global, is that we are not just here to tell stories, but to have an impact and help people change their lives,” said Huffington, founder and chief executive officer of Thrive Global. “As a leader of our growing editorial team, Marina will leverage her deeply rooted experience in research, reporting and storytelling to bring together the latest science, ancient wisdom and new role models to help our readers around the world make the changes they want in their lives.”
Khidekel was most recently a senior deputy editor at Women’s Health, where she oversaw health and wellness features. Prior to that, she was deputy editor of features and brand extensions at Cosmopolitan. Khidekel also founded Undrrated, an e-mail newsletter that featured notable creatives who shared their under-the-radar culture, food and style recommendations.
Khidekel’s role will include expanding how Thrive collaborates with its network of expert contributors and bringing in new voices that dovetail with Thrive’s core topics.
“As editorial director, I really hope to broaden that conversation about work/life integration and what works for real people. There’s been a lot of conversation about work/life balance, but people are starting to realize that term is kind of a sham. It’s a mirage, and what we are actually doing when we are seeking balance is chasing our tails around in a circle,” Khidekel said.
The new role has personal resonance for Khidekel, whose family moved to the U.S. from Russia when she was two years old, and said that, as an immigrant, she grew up with the mentality that “we are here to live the American Dream, and the way to do that is to be working, working, working constantly.”
“I never saw my mother get a massage or do anything in the self-care realm, so in my mind, those were things for other people. Not for me. I love to work and what I do, but for much of my career that’s all I focused on,” she said.
But due to working in the wellness space, Khidekel said, she has begun to believe that well-being and career are both important.
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