In 1971, Ms. Finke made her social debut at the International Debutante Ball in New York. Three years later, when she was 20 years old, The Times published news about her engagement to Jeffrey Greenberg, the son of insurance executive Maurice Greenberg.
There were early signs that Ms Finke would not live up to the expectations of her parents, who saw her as a future wife and upper-class mother. In Wellesley College She is the editor of the campus newspaper. And in what appeared to be her first job – staff assistant to Representative Edward I. Koch, New York Democrat who later became mayor of New York City – she was convinced by the idea of a career in journalism: “When I saw how Ed and his staff would kneel before journalists, I said, ‘Oh, I want to do that,’” she said in 2013 interview.
In 1975, she worked for The Associated Press, to the chagrin of her parents. She covered Mr. Koch’s 1977 mayoral election and spent time at the news agency’s Moscow office. She later said that the post fueled her interest in closed societies, by which she meant Hollywood.
It was not until 1980 that she married Mr. Greenberg. The wedding was held at the Pierre Hotel, and the marriage lasted less than a year. Ms Finke later said it was over, largely due to her ambition, which would take her to The Dallas Morning News, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Observer and New York magazine.
Perhaps because of her upbringing, she is not afraid of Hollywood. She started to make a name for herself by following the fortunes of the C-suite stars of the day – Bob Daly, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Ari Emanuel, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mr. Meyer, Michael Ovitz, Terry Semel, Jim Wiatt, Jeff Zucker and many others. But her ambitions are sometimes thwarted by a host of factors, depending on who you ask, including whether she’s too tough, too emotional, too erratic, or simply being a woman of the pack. he.
“She was very smart,” said Lisa Chase, who edited for her at The Observer in the 1990s. “She is particularly outraged about Hollywood’s power structure and how it misuses money. And she has great resources.
