Diane Anderson-Minshall Named First Woman CEO of Pride Media

Pride Media Inc., the largest publisher of LGBTQ-focused content in the United States, has named Diane Anderson-Minshall as its new chief executive officer, the first woman to ever hold the position at the company.

Anderson-Minshall is a 30-year LGBTQ media veteran, and the founder and CEO of Retrograde Communications, a modern editorial services and content development firm, which produced content and white label experiences for corporations, nonprofits, and destinations/tourism outlets, including Marriott, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Walgreens, AT&T, and more. The agency had previously partnered with Pride Media and was a key producer of content for The Advocate and Plus magazines.

Diane had previously served as the editorial director for The Advocate, the country's oldest and most powerful LGBTQ publication, where she helped expand the reach of a number of Pride's multiplatform brands and expanded their revenue streams. She was also the editor in chief of Curve for a decade, the cofounder of Girlfriends magazine, and the publisher of Alice magazine (which later sold to SolarByte Media).

"The Advocate was the first LGBTQ magazine I ever read, back in the late 1980s. I literally left mainstream media within weeks of discovering it, knowing the stories that I wanted to tell," says Anderson-Minshall. "Now, decades after I first penned one of my earliest freelance articles for The Advocate, our brands -- Out, The Advocate, Pride, Plus -- are still among the only national LGBTQ brands with the power to tell the full truth about our lives. These titles, and this company, are more important now in 2020, than ever. I look forward to taking our mandate for storytelling to new people and new platforms while remembering the readers and followers who have gotten us here."

Perhaps best known for her celebrity coming-out interviews (which include notable actresses such as Angelina Jolie), Anderson-Minshall is also the president of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.

Anderson-Minshall and her spouse of 28 years, transgender journalist Jacob Anderson-Minshall, are authors of a popular lesbian mystery series (Blind Eye detective agency trilogy) and a memoir, Queerly Beloved: A Love Story Across Genders, which documents their pivot from lesbian couple to husband and wife after Jacob came out as a transgender man.

"Diane Anderson-Minshall has a passion for diverse LGBTQ storytelling that has informed, inspired, and created lasting change for our community," says GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. "There has never been a more important time for The Advocate, Out, and all of Pride Media's brands to be producing the quality LGBTQ reporting and storytelling that they are known for. Diane Anderson-Minshall is an experienced leader who will lead Pride Media to new success at a critical time."

Pride Media is the publisher of Out, The Advocate, Pride, Plus, and more. It is the leading voice in the LGBTQ community within the United States and abroad.