Natalie Bancroft in Catherine Malandrino Photo: Portfolio
When pervy uncle Rupert Murdoch passed over more qualified members of the Bancroft family to appoint Natalie Bancroft, the great-granddaughter of Hugh Bancroft, to the board of Dow Jones this past fall, it’s safe to say eyebrows were raised. Sitting board members included a former U.S. secretary of Education and the former prime minister of Spain. Natalie was a 27-year-old aspiring opera singer, the daughter of a model and a race-car driver, with no prior experience in business or in journalism. “I know that me as a choice was kind of scandalous,” Bancroft tells writer Sofia Banay in Portfolio’s March issue. But “I’m not just some idiotic girl in piggytails yodeling.” Not just. Bancroft goes on to say that in between flying to Milan for voice lessons, she’s taking a journalism class and “working her little butt off” to measure up to her peers on the board. Will she be getting an MBA?, Banay asks her. “In journalism?” Bancroft responds. Oh, no, honey. We bet you learned all you need to know about journalism just from doing this interview.
Lady Sings the News [Portfolio]
