Nina Garcia
Nina Garcia is the editor-in-chief of the U.S. edition of ELLE, the number one fashion media brand in the world, with 45 international editions and a global readership of 175+ million. Garcia is the first Latina to lead a major American fashion title and has spent over 20 years in the fashion industry. Building on ELLE’s history of excellence and inclusion, Garcia has extended the brand’s fashion and cultural coverage across new platforms. Since taking the helm in September 2017, ELLE’s footprint has never been larger.
During her tenure, ELLE has been an ASME Award finalist for General Excellence, Lifestyle Photographs, and Essays and Criticism. Garcia’s impactful covers, focus on uplifting Latin American voices, and commitment to championing social change have earned her a 2024 Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications, USA Today’s Women of the Year in 2023, and the CFDA’s Media Award in Honor of Eugenia Sheppard in 2021. For ELLE’s groundbreaking March 2021 cover featuring FKA Twigs, Garcia received WomanKind’s Phoenix Woman of the Year in Media Award for bringing attention to intimate partner violence. ELLE was also named Adweek’s Hottest Fashion Magazine in 2019 and The Daily Front Row’s Magazine of the Year in 2023 and 2018.
Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, Garcia is a graduate of Boston University and the Fashion Institute of Technology (aka FIT). She began her career at Mirabella and served as fashion director of ELLE from 2000 to 2008, after holding other roles at the title since 1995. She was the creative director of Marie Claire before returning to ELLE in 2017.
Garcia has been a judge on the Peabody Award-winning series “Project Runway” since it launched in 2004. She is the author of four books on personal style, including the New York Times bestseller “The Little Black Book of Style.” Garcia has appeared as a style expert on “Good Morning America,” “Today,” “The View” and more. In 2017 and 2012, Garcia also hosted the red carpet for ABC’s Oscar® telecast. Her respected authority in the industry earned her Fashion Group International’s Oracle Award in 2010.
After undergoing a preventative double mastectomy in 2019, which she shared in a moving op-ed on ELLE.com, Garcia joined the board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) and is involved with The Basser Center for BRCA Research and the Alliance in Reconstructive Surgery Foundation. She also serves on the board of the CFDA, Fashion Institute of Technology, and Fashion Trust Arabia.
Garcia lives in New York with her husband and their two sons.