Samantha Barry is a world-renowned media executive, award-winning editor, and global leader in audience transformation. Most recently, she served as Global Editorial Director of Glamour, overseeing the brand’s editorial vision and content strategy across the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Spain, and Germany, following seven years as Editor-in-Chief of Glamour America.

Across her tenure, Barry led one of the world’s most iconic women’s media brands through a defining era of change, transforming Glamour into a dynamic, digital-first global platform with cultural influence far beyond traditional publishing. Under her leadership, the brand expanded its global footprint, evolved its storytelling for new platforms and new media habits, amplified diverse voices, and deepened its authority on the issues shaping women’s lives today.

Barry is known for building media brands that move culture. At Glamour, she oversaw agenda-setting journalism and major global initiatives, including an international investigation into child marriage in collaboration with Amal Clooney, Michelle Obama, and Melinda French Gates; sustained advocacy and award-winning journalism on paid family leave in the United States; and the continued expansion of Glamour’s Women of the Year franchise into a global platform celebrating changemakers across business, culture, politics, sport, and activism.

She also led some of the brand’s most talked-about covers and cultural moments, including the viral Women of the Year cover featuring Tina Knowles, Maggie Baird, Donna Kelce, and Mandy Teefy, celebrating the mothers behind some of the world’s biggest stars. Beyond print and digital storytelling, Barry expanded Glamour’s reach through original formats such as the podcast She Makes Money Moves and the YouTube series We Need to Talk, creating smart, resonant content that connects with audiences across platforms and generations.

Before joining Glamour, Barry served as Executive Producer for Social and Emerging Media at CNN, where she led global social strategy and helped the network earn its first Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Social Media. She began her journalism career with RTÉ in Ireland and the BBC in London, and later reported from Papua New Guinea for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, covering complex political and social issues with an international lens.

With a career spanning legacy newsrooms, global digital platforms, and one of the most influential women’s media brands in the world, Barry brings rare insight into how audiences are changing, how leaders can guide organizations through transformation, and how storytelling shapes culture. She speaks with authority, candor, and warmth on leading through disruption, the future of media and audience habits, women in leadership, global storytelling, brand reinvention, and building influence with purpose.

Barry holds an Honorary Doctorate from Ulster University and has received multiple accolades for her contributions to journalism, media innovation, and women’s leadership. She serves on the board of Room to Read, a global nonprofit focused on girls’ literacy and education, and is a dedicated advocate for mentorship, media literacy, and expanding opportunity for women and girls around the world.