Influential Woman · Nonprofit Publishing

Mary Sutton

Editorial Director, Academy of American Poets

New York, NY

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree BA in Comparative Literature Degree Smith College Degree 2005 Degree Master's Degree Degree Erasmus Joint Degree Program Degree University of Bamberg and Paris Diderot

Her Story

About Mary

I majored in comparative literature at Smith College and graduated in 2005. I always thought I would end up in publishing, though I've taken a rather circuitous path toward it. After college, I didn't move to New York right away. I actually lived abroad for a little while and worked as an ESL instructor in both South Korea and Japan. I spent most of my 20s living and working in East Asia. Then I moved back to the United States and freelanced for quite a while. That gave me a great deal of flexibility and freedom, even though it didn't pay great, especially when you're starting out. But it did give me great flexibility, especially with travel, so I was able to take my work with me while I traveled. In 2018, soon after I got my master's degree, I saw a job opportunity with Library of America to be a Public Humanities Fellow. Library of America is also a nonprofit publisher. Because it was a fellowship, there was a term limit, so I was there for just over 2 years, 2 years and 2 months. Then later in that same year, after my fellowship ended, I landed at the Academy of American Poets as Senior Content Editor. In that role, I got to be more expansive with it than my predecessor was and add a great deal of content that wasn't present before. I expanded the offerings in our members magazine particularly, and I was made Editorial Director just last year. I lead the largest team at the Academy in that role.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Mary

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

The advice that I always give is decide very early on which road you want to take, if you want to be in nonprofit or trade publishing. Because they're very different fields in certain key ways, but both very fulfilling, each in their own ways, but very different. And it's not, once you choose a particular path, it's not that easy to shift over to the other side. If you're very good at self-marketing and networking, it's certainly possible. I mean, I've seen people do it. But very often, people who choose one particular facet of the industry end up staying there. With the nonprofit world especially, there's a certain framework of thinking that can be very difficult to shift over to trade, which is, of course, more market-based and more profit-driven.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think the biggest challenge is the political climate and what that's done to stifle arts funding. We don't, I think we're all immensely grateful for the private support that exists, but there's a great deal of concern about the federal government's role in continuing to fund the arts. But it's just a matter of waiting and seeing. It won't always be like this. But I think it makes things very difficult. There's also the climate of censorship that's encroached upon our work.

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