Meet… Sabine Heller
Author: Jauretsi | Posted: January 14th, 2009 | Filed under: Digital | | Comments Off |
(ASMALLMAGAZINE’s Editor-in-Chief, Sabine Heller)
Sabine is one of those girls you’re always happy to bump into at some swank event in this city. She is the quintessential New York woman — smart, sharp-looking, fast thinker, and can talk about almost anything. She also has a vast network of influential friends around the planet. That’s why the exclusive “invite-only” networking community ASMALLWORLD.com (a Facebook for Jet-Setters) hired her to be the Editor-in-Chief of ASMALLMAGAZINE, ASW’s online magazine. Recently launched, Sabine is using her editorial savvy to further interweave and introduce the illustrious members of the community to each other.
Jauretsi: Can you describe quickly what is ASMALLWORLD, for those not in the community?
ASMALLWORLD is an online community that brings together a highly curated, tight-knit, influential group of tastemakers from around the world. It’s a place where people can find jobs, investors, collaborators, discuss ideas, get advice (especially travel related), buy, sell, rent or swap wares, from vacation homes to vintage cars. You could even say that ASW is fraternal in that members really take care of each other. Last year I visited Tokyo and members organized a dinner for me and introduced me to the city’s best hidden spots. On a larger scale, members have been known to come to one another’s aid in dire situations. In one case, they organized the release of a fellow member from a Saudi jail; and in another, sent a private jet for a medical emergency.
You have cultivated a magazine for this very private but globally powerful community, with a special relaunch right before holidays. Can you tell me what your vision for ASMALLMAGAZINE is?
ASMALLMAGAZINE focuses on contemporary and social culture with a view towards a return to sincerity (mixed in with a pinch of satire!). We embrace the end of apathy — a return to passion; the end of flash — a return to substance. Our stories range from a photo essay peeking behind the walls of North Korea’s totalitarian regime, and an opinion piece about tribal courts sentencing women to gang rape, to a tongue-in-cheek feature about New York’s most photographed scenesters. We recently profiled actress Elizabeth Banks, art dealer Javier Perez, and Saudi global leader Muna AbuSulayman. Functionally ASM’s uniqueness comes from its viral potential and from the fact that it’s ultimately “3-D,” often starting a three-way conversation between readers, interviewer and interviewee.
How can one get access to read your publication with its plugged-in worldly contributors?
Unfortunately, right now you have to be a member of ASMALLWORLD to gain access to the publication. The only way to become a member is if a friend invites you to join.
Ah-hah. So you need to “know someone who knows someone”. Any personal resolutions for 09?
I’d love to work on an art project that is intensely personal to me. Topics so far — familial estrangement and prisons.
