• by Sara Guaglione , September 15, 2017

Cindi Leive is stepping down as Glamour editor-in-chief after 16 years on the job, following a line-up of editors who announced this month they are leaving big-name magazines, like Vanity Fair, Elle and Time.

Leive broke the news to The New York Times, the same newspaper Graydon Carter spoke to when he announced he was leaving Vanity Fair after 25 at the helm of the entertainment and pop-culture publication. Both Glamour and Vanity Fair are Conde Nast publications.

"As in all things magazine-related, damn Graydon got there first," she told the Times' Katherine Rosman.

However, Leive had her interview with the NYT before she even informed her staff that she was leaving.

Leive will step down at the end of this year. Though she did not give a specific reason for her decision, or her plans for the future, Leive told the NYT her mother passed away at 49, and Leive turned that age last year.

“I felt like I have been given this gift of so much more life, and I wanted to do something with it,” she told the newspaper.

Leive has been an employee of Condé Nast for 29 years. While she did suggest she wants to continue working, Leive said she is not planning to work at another big publisher or perhaps even in the media industry.

On her Instagram account, Leive wrote: “This is an electric moment for women and activism, and I plan to be part of that by getting deep into projects that stand to improve women’s lives.”

This fall seems to be the season for a changing of the guard in the magazine industry.

Time magazine editor-in-chief Nancy Gibbs is stepping down from the top spot at the iconic news weekly after 32 years at the publication. Time digital editor Edward Felsenthal will take her place.

And Robbie Myers, the longtime editor of iconic fashion mag Elle, announced he is exiting after 17 years in that role. Nina Garcia, creative director of Marie Claire, will succeed her.