Miranda is the high-powered editor-in-chief of Runway magazine. She is middle-aged and only five feet, four inches tall, which is short by high-fashion standards. Nevertheless, she’s always perfectly groomed and wears a size zero. This causes all her assistants to obsess about their own weight. Miranda exercises absolute control over every aspect of the magazine. The publishers give her free rein because she works hard to increase readership and always has her finger on the pulse of the fashion industry.

Despite her considerable gifts as a savvy editor, Miranda is a terrible human being. She is so unlikeable that the people who surround her aren’t really her friends. They simply want to gain some advantage from knowing her. Miranda is particularly narcissistic and demeaning toward her assistants. She exploits them by dangling the carrot of career advancement before their eyes. The editor becomes the book’s primary example of a failed life, despite her career success. Andy learns from Miranda’s negative example before it’s too late.

Andrea (“Andy”) is a recent college graduate who aspires to write for The New Yorker. She’s attractive, almost six feet tall, and weighs only 115 pounds. Her low weight is the result of a parasitic infection from which she’s recovering when she interviews for a job at Runway.