Lisa Lovatt-Smith

Lisa Lovatt-Smith, is the former international head of Spanish Vogue Magazine and founder of OAfrica, a charity for Ghanaian children.^[1]

Early life

Lovatt-Smith^[2] was born in Barcelona, Spain. Her parents are from a working class area in the north of England and moved to the Mediterranean coast.^[3] She won a writing competition for Vogue magazine at the age of 17 in 1984 and was awarded a job in London with the magazine for one year. At age 19, she was made picture editor by Anna Wintour, becoming the youngest editor in the magazine's history and by the age of 21 she was fashion director of the newly launched Spanish Vogue,^[4] and the youngest person in Conde Nast to become a fashion director, a record she holds to this day.

OAfrica

During her time with Vogue Lovatt-Smith edited 13 books on fashion photography and design. At the age of 23, she fostered an orphan girl named Sabrina.^[5] In 2002, during a volunteering trip to Ghana with Sabrina, Lisa founded OAfrica. OAfrica helps more than 5,000 children a year, providing healthcare for those who are sick and helping find foster families for orphans.^[6] Lisa has been working in Ghana, campaigning against corrupt private orphanages, helping children separated from their families by poverty, the H.I.V. - AIDS epidemic or the exodus from rural to urban areas.In 2014 her memoir "Who Knows Tomorrow" was published by Weinstein Books in the USA and UK.^[7] There were later French,^[8] Spanish and Australian editions.

References