Julia Jäkel studied history, political science and economics at Heidelberg, Harvard and Cambridge universities. She began her career in publishing in 1997 when she joined Bertelsmann’s Young Executive Program, which eventually led her to the publishing house of Gruner + Jahr. By the end of the 1990s, she was part of the founding team of the Financial Times Deutschland. In 2004, she took over the management of Brigitte magazine. By 2008, she was in charge of managing over 20 print and digital titles. Today, she is the CEO of Gruner + Jahr and her task is to reposition the company within a radically changing media landscape.