At a Glance
- Michele Corriston started as a 2014 intern and now steals PEOPLE’s TikTok, Snapchat, and emerging Gen Z platforms
- She left for SiriusXM in 2016, returned in 2017 to run the TV vertical, and has served as Director of Platforms Strategy since 2020
- Northwestern Medill grad holds a BS in Journalism and has spent her entire post-college career inside celebrity news
- Why it matters: Her rise maps how legacy media brands fight for relevance with younger audiences
Michele Corriston’s career at PEOPLE is a study in persistence, reinvention, and timing the right pivot at the right moment. What began as a 2014 internship has turned into a decade-long sprint that landed her in the C-suite as Director of Platforms Strategy, the executive tasked with keeping a 50-year-old brand fluent in TikTok dances and Snapchat filters.
From Intern to Associate Editor
Corriston’s first stint at PEOPLE followed the classic ladder-climb playbook:
- 2014: hired as an intern
- Promoted to Associate Editor
- Covered entertainment and pop-culture beats
- Absorbed the rhythms of daily digital newsrooms
Those two early years gave her a front-row seat to the first wave of social traffic surges and the growing appetite for video inside Facebook feeds.
The SiriusXM Detour That Changed Everything
In 2016 she jumped to SiriusXM, trading print-centric workflows for satellite radio’s expanding digital team. The move was strategic: she pivoted into social media production and short-form video-skills that would later become her golden ticket back to PEOPLE.
Return in 2017: Running the TV Vertical
PEOPLE lured her back after only a year, this time with a mandate to own the TV vertical on PEOPLE.com. The job description was simple in theory, massive in scope:
- Supervise daily coverage of primetime hits, streaming drops, and reality-TV chaos
- Coordinate writers, freelancers, and video shooters
- Hit aggressive traffic targets while protecting the brand’s celebrity-friendly tone
The vertical quickly became one of the site’s most reliable click engines, and Corriston’s reputation as an audience whisperer grew.
Promotion to Director of Platforms Strategy
By 2020 the parent company needed someone who spoke fluent Gen Z and could translate that into revenue. Corriston’s title changed to Director of Platforms Strategy. Her mission:
- Build PEOPLE’s footprint on TikTok
- Expand reach across Snapchat Discover
- Test every emerging platform before competitors arrive
- Convert followers into video views and, ultimately, ad dollars
The job marries editorial instinct with data science: she studies completion rates, drop-off timestamps, and sound-on vs. sound-off behavior to tweak the next clip.
Education and Early Drive
Corriston earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Illinois. The program’s emphasis on multimedia storytelling primed her for a career that would bounce between text, video, and algorithmic feeds.
About the Brand She Helps Steer
PEOPLE, a People Inc. brand, launched in 1974 with a promise to spotlight the people behind the issues, not just the issues themselves. Today the magazine and its digital arms chase the same goal-only the delivery trucks have been swapped for push notifications.
Core promises include:
- Trustworthy celebrity news
- Human-interest stories that spark conversation
- Beauty, food, and style filtered through trend-setting personalities
- Hope, optimism, and kindness as editorial north stars
Key Takeaways
- Michele Corriston’s 10-year arc shows how legacy brands groom digital natives for leadership
- Her SiriusXM detour armed her with video and social skills that proved invaluable on return
- As Director of Platforms Strategy since 2020, she now dictates how PEOPLE courts Gen Z across TikTok, Snapchat, and whatever pops up next
