VANESSA SATTEN rates her looks outside of the traditional beauty standard set by the Hip-Hop music establishment and believes that by virtue of this, it's easier for her to navigate an arena that's dominated by swaggering young men in their prime, who court the industry's celebrated eye candy girls. Maybe she's on to something because Satten has become one of Hip-Hop's most influential women by circumventing the party girl scene and earnestly working her way through the ranks of XXL magazine, progressing from intern to editor-in-chief.

Satten pauses her hectic, deadline-driven schedule to speak with Angela McKenzie about the pressure and pleasure of generating timely, authentic content for XXL's hard copy and online magazines and about the yearly XXL Freshman edition and concert, which help to accelerate the careers of promising new emcees. Satten is a woman who is quietly and steadfastly making history in the worlds of publishing and Hip-Hop but she asserts that every success the magazine achieves results from making readers top priority and from a work ethic that's rooted in team spirit.

XXL magazine is an offering of Harris Publications.