Edward Lewis
Edward Lewis is the publisher of Essence magazine and the Chairman and CEO of Essence Communications, Inc. An All-City fullback at New York's DeWitt Clinton High School, he attended the University of New Mexico on a football scholarship. Inspired by a sympathetic professor, he earned degrees in political science and international relations before pursuing graduate studies at Harvard Business School. In 1968, Lewis and his partners founded Essence Communications to publish a fashion magazine directed at African American women. The first issue of Essence appeared in 1970, with an initial circulation of 50,000. Lewis became the magazine's publisher, and circulation quickly grew to over a million. Lewis expanded and diversified the parent company with ventures in book publishing, television production, product licensing, and direct-mail marketing, as well as the sister magazines Latina and Jade (for Asian American women) and the annual Essence Awards and Essence Music Festival. In 2000, E