Liz Baker Plosser ’01 Serves Readers With Expert-Based Advice at Women’s Health

Liz Baker Plosser ’01 loved her first job as an investment banker at Bear Stearns, but she knew that working in finance wasn’t what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. So she started looking for other Princetonians who could help her pivot into her dream industry — magazines.

“I remember vividly using TigerNet and filtering people in that industry, and I got really good at cold emailing people to see if they would talk to me,” Plosser says. “I was astounded by the number of people who had no idea who I was, never met me on campus, we could be decades apart, but they would give their advice and their support.”

With the help of mentors and friends like Joyce Chang ’98, a longtime magazine editor and the former editor-in-chief of SELF, Plosser left Bear Stearns in 2003. She began a media career that’s taken her to SELF, Cosmopolitan, SoulCycle, and Well+Good before landing at her current role in 2018: the editor-in-chief of Women’s Health.

In an age of much misinformation and confusion regarding health, Plosser says it’s incredibly important to provide reputable, safe advice to her readers.

“What I’m so, so proud of with Women’s Health is that we’re a science-backed, expert-based media brand,” she says. “We really go the extra mile to vet the information, talk to the leading scientist or academic, and I think you can really see the difference in our pieces.”

That also means covering wellness trends in a non-judgmental, non-dismissive way. “If we’re going to talk about a trend, like keeping crystals to improve mental health, or drinking celery juice, we’re going to go to the right people and the right studies and give that information to our readers,” she says. “So if they want to try it — even if there’s not a lot of science behind it — they know that going in.”

Plosser believes her background in investment banking has been a tremendous asset to her career, noting that she keeps it on her resume and it’s often the first thing people ask her about in job interviews. “I learned things you don’t in the traditional journalism path, like thinking differently about problems and coming in from a different world,” she says. She also says the advice she received from alumni during her career transition was crucial.

“To this day, when I get a cold email from a Princetonian about job advice, I remember how much it moved me and impacted me in a positive way to get that support from other alumni,” she says. “I try to pay it forward and be there to answer their questions.”

Plosser has plenty of helpful career advice to offer everyone from graduating seniors to people looking to pivot in their careers to consumers of health media: Never think you are above a task. Never say no to a conversation about a new opportunity. Be open and real. And always look for more information.

“Getting information is how you make an informed decision and make the best choices for your future,” she says.