Joan Sheridan LaBarge is Vice President/Group Publisher of Working Mother Media. Working Mother Media is a subsidiary of publishing giant Bonnier Corporation. 

Joan is known as a seasoned publishing executive who nurtures the brand to drive results. Her strategic sales prospecting regimens keep her team focused and productive.  Working Mother magazine was up +3.6 % in ad pages for 2008 compared to the industry's -11.7 % performance. 

Named President and Publisher of Working Mother magazine in 2005, Sheridan's impact was immediately felt at the then 26 year-old publication. With Joan at the helm, Working Mother closed its June 2005 issue with the biggest ad sales for that month since 1988. The June/July issue features the magazine’s Best Companies for Multicultural Women, recognizing businesses that support the recruitment, retention and promotion of women of color. The issue boasted an 18% growth in ad pages over 2004–and that was only her first issue at Working Mother. The overall ad page increase for the period June-Dec 2005 was 13% over the same period in 2004. Joan was able to quickly affect business with a selling strategy that focused the sales team on "uber" prospects, which widened their scope of selling and integrated the efforts of the magazine and conference sellers.

Joan defined and more clearly positioned Working Mother in the advertising community. She identified the Working Mother reader as a mom with a career and family, a market that represents 36% of all moms in America. It was now clear: The mom with a career, the not-to-miss, affluent mom can only be found in Working Mother. This new positioning was integrated in all sales presentations and materials.  Joan also gained responsibility for the Working Mother Conference and Events revenue generation.

Prior to joining Working Mother, Joan had been the publisher of Gruner & Jahr’s YM where she handled the magazine’s repositioning to distinguish it from the cluttered teen category. She also partnered with Fox’s teen television show The Menu, to produce YM branded segments and successfully sold integrated TV, Print and Online packages.

From 2001-2002, Sheridan was the publisher of Rosie magazine, where she increased ad revenue and ad pages by 25% and 18%, respectively. Prior to Rosie, Sheridan served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Parade Magazine. Before that, she was Executive Vice President, Group Publishing Director at Weider Publications, Inc., where she managed Shape, Men’s Fitness, Jump and Fit Pregnancy.  She crafted and executed the strategy to take Shape from being a gym rat magazine to being a sophisticated, active lifestyle magazine.

Sheridan spent 12 years working for Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, where she was Publisher of Family Life, and Associate Publisher at Woman’s Day. She led Woman’s Day to the number one share of market position in the highly competitive women’s service field from 1993-1995. She began her career as a media planner and buyer.

Sheridan is a member of the Board of Directors of Advertising Women of New York and Co-Chair of their most successful fundraiser, Advertising Working Mothers of the Year.  She is the Director of the girls soccer program for the Forest Hills Youth Activities Association.

She received her B.S. in Communication Arts from St. John’s University and was honored as an outstanding alumni in 2008. Joan lives with her two daughters and husband Steven, in Forest Hills, New York.