Don't believe those reports that Hearst has just about wrapped up its search for Atoosa Rubenstein's replacement. While Cosmogirl No. 2 Ann Shoket and former New York editor Amy Goldwasser may well be in the running to succeed Rubenstein as editor in chief of Seventeen, so are a host of others, both inside and outside Hearst, whose names have yet to surface. Among them, according to sources, are Marie Claire beauty director Didi Gluck, MTV talent director Alyssa Vitrano, and Tina Wells, president of Buzz Marketing, a teen research consultancy. "Everybody in America is a contender," says an insider. "They have no idea who to hire. They don't know if they should get a trending expert, a traditional editor, or what."
Last week, as Rubenstein logged her last few days on the job, Hearst editorial director Ellen Levine took time out from breathing down Joanna Coles's neck to meet with Seventeen's staff and answer their questions. Beyond clarifying that executive editor Jillian McKenzie (a relatively recent addition, poached from Allure in August) will be acting editor for now, the meeting raised more questions than it answered, particularly about what role Levine herself will play in the transition, according to the insider. "Everyone was kind of like, 'Who is this old lady, and what's going on?'"