Gloria would be 85 years old today, and so it's a special day to remember a woman who contributed so significantly to our pop culture history and encouraged a generation of young people to pursue their dreams. I am honored to share some insights about Gloria from someone who worked alongside her at 16 Magazine. ~ Karen
"It's my opinion that Gloria's main goal as Editor-in-Chief of 16 Magazine was not to stroke her own ego through fame, prestige, or monetary reward. That was never important to her. But it meant the world to her that her readers understood that she cared for them, that they should be proud of who they were and that they should confidently bypass all obstacles when they set their own goals. That they laugh, embrace life, always see the glass half-full, and learn from disappointment rather than feel defeated. In her own way, she was essentially "if you read between her lines" one of the first woman libbers who wanted her "girls" to never stop reaching for the stars (literally, not figuratively) and never give up on themselves. And given that there was no social media as there is today, she still managed to make her readers feel that they were all an active vocal part of a community whose only social media connection was 16 Magazine. Gloria managed to make 16 Magazine the "glue" that kept her readers together. And Gloria was very proud that she pulled that off. I don't think anything she did in that respect was coincidental. She was a remarkable woman, misunderstood by many because of her bold competitiveness, unending perseverance, and at times frightening abrasiveness when it came to business. But underneath all that she was a warm, loving, compassionate person who marched very independently to her own drummer, by choice. She was way ahead of her time, and in retrospect I think more and more people are realizing that."
- Mimi Gitterman Zizza Menendez
Mimi was Gloria Stavers' secretary at 16 Magazine from 1968 through 1972. In addition to her other career accomplishments, Mimi has constructed original word puzzles for Dell Magazines, has published two books of her word puzzles for Barnes and Noble, and is currently working on creating her own word puzzle apps.