Châtelaine’s new editor-in-chief wants Quebec women to see themselves in the magazine

Camille Cardin-Goyer, BA 16, learned she had been hired as editor-in-chief of Châtelaine on a Friday. By Monday, she was shipping her first issue.

The Concordia alumna now has an increasingly clear sense of where she wants the 65-year-old magazine to go. Her goal is to draw in a new generation of readers while honouring what Châtelaine has always done well: building community among women in the province of Quebec.

Cardin-Goyer told the hiring committee that, despite her experience across different publications, she thought that Châtelaine could better resonate with women of her generation — including her own peers.

“This is an opportunity. We need to do something about this,” she told them.

That candour got her the job.

Cardin-Goyer came to journalism through a winding path. After completing a bachelor’s degree in political science at Université de Montréal and a year of journalism studies at the University of Ottawa, she transferred to Concordia.

The hands-on approach of the Department of Journalism immediately clicked.

“The learning process was so practical,” she recalls. “Out of the three universities I attended, my Concordia experience was by far the best.”

Studying in English transformed how Cardin-Goyer approached her writing. At Concordia, faculty encouraged economy and precision.

She credits two professors in particular: Alastair Sutherland, who taught feature writing, and David Secko, who taught magazine writing.

“I already loved writing when I entered the program, but those classes shaped how I thought about journalism,” she says. “They were game-changing.”

Finding ‘new ways to innovate’

Before Châtelaine, Cardin-Goyer worked across print and digital media, including roles at Elle Canada and enRoute. She sees her breadth of experience as essential to rethinking what a magazine can be in 2026.

“We need to think of content as an ecosystem,” she says. “Not just repurposing stories from print to web, but finding new formats and new ways of reaching people.”

Cardin-Goyer’s editorial vision centres on expanding whose stories get told.

“I want to amplify perspectives that don’t always find their way into mainstream media,” she says. “Immigrant women, caregivers, people whose paths don’t follow a traditional arc. I want every reader to flip open the magazine and either recognize something of her own life or discover a perspective she hasn’t encountered before.”

That also means looking beyond the usual roster of public figures.

“I want to make space for tastemakers who are quietly shifting culture in their own fields,” she explains. “Women who are driving change in their industries but haven’t yet reached household-name status. Châtelaine must play a role in bringing those voices forward.”

It's a big mandate for a small team facing the same pressures as every legacy publication. But Cardin-Goyer welcomes the challenge.

“How do you make extraordinary things with tiny budgets? You have to be creative,” she says. “Châtelaine has been here for 65 years. I don’t see the changes in the industry as a setback. We just need to find new ways to innovate.”