How To Say Goodbye?

Based on my behaviour over the past few days - that would be procrastination, humming Frank Sinatra, staring at Table Mountain and eating chocolates - the answer to this question is simple: it’s with great difficulty.

But why would quitting this job be easy? Saying goodbye to things (and people) you love is never just a whistle, a head toss and a sashay out of the door.

I’ve always considered myself to have the loveliest job on the continent, and the reason I loved it so much was not for all the freebies, first-class travel and frisking with rock stars. (Every stray blogger and his dog get more swag than I do. Promise.) Editing this magazine has been wonderful for so many reasons but largely because of you, the
COSMO crew. I couldn’t have asked for a more delightful bunch with whom to spend so much time. I’ve loved – and been inspired by – your energy, your sense of fun, your passion, your bravery and your self-belief. You’re no-one’s fools. You’re fun-loving and fearless. There are one-million of you and you are a tribe to be reckoned with. A powerful army, for now and the future.

You are the magazine.

And so is the marvellous Sbu Mpungose, your new editor. Some of you might know her from True Love, where she did a superb job. Some of you will meet her for the first time next month. I am 100% COSMO confident that you’ll love each other. Sbu is as COSMO as you are. I, for one, think it’s a match made in heaven.

I’m not going far (turn left instead of right when you walk through the door on the fifth floor if you want to catch up) but it’s time for me to pack up my rotter ex-boyfriends, badly-behaved Labradors, long-suffering friends (how would you like to find your deepest secrets on page 6 of South Africa’s biggest young women’s magazine, month after month?) and move on to my next challenge.

Letting go will be hard. Dream jobs don’t come along that many times during a lifetime, but I’m ready to try something different. I’ll miss the incredible, professional teams of people who have contributed (and still do contribute) to the great success of this magazine over my 16 years in the editor’s seat. I’ll miss the amazing, incomparable platform it has been for my ideas, dreams, creativity and my unwavering belief that everyone should listen to what I think.

But … enough!

Thank you all for having joined me on this incredible journey. Thanks for the mammaries. (Good grief. How many Swimwear supplements have I pored over?) No. (Memo to self.) Really: enough.

I love you all.

Author: Vanessa Raphaely