Staff Biographies

Rebecca Wesson Darwin is President & CEO of the media company she formed with partners Pierre Manigualt and J. Edward Bell III that owns Garden & Gun. Ms. Darwin launched Garden & Gun in Spring 2007, after moving back south to Charleston, South Carolina, following a successful career in publishing in NYC. In 2007, the magazine was named the #2 hottest launch of over 700 magazines that year and has just recently won a National Magazine Award in General Excellence by the American Society of Magazine Editors and was named to Advertising Age’s 2011 Magazine A-List (ranked #4 out of 10.) The Garden & Gun brand has continued to develop under her direction through the creation of the Garden & Gun Club, the G&G Store, G&G Exclusives, and award-winning newsletters.
 
Darwin grew up in Columbia, SC, attended the University of North Carolina, and then moved to New York. She established her career at GQ, where she implemented national retail advertising and promotions programs and later became the first female publisher of The New Yorker, publisher of Mirabella, and was the marketing director of Fortune. She also served as the president and CEO of the National Association for Female Executives. Her immersion in the worlds of media, fashion, advertising and business bring an understanding and grace to the world of Garden & Gun.  Ms. Darwin resides in downtown Historic Charleston with her husband Cress, the Pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, and her two girls, Lily & SaSa.
 
 

David DiBenedetto is the editor in chief of Garden & Gun, where he oversees all print and digital platforms. Formerly the executive editor at the title, DiBenedetto was part of the team responsible for the magazine’s National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2011. Previously he was the editor of SaltWater Sportsman, where, in addition to implementing a complete redesign of the 78-year-old magazine, he led the title to its first ever National Magazine Award nomination (General Excellence) in 2007. SaltWater Sportsman was the first, and is still the only, fishing publication to be nominated for such an honor. Prior to his time at SaltWater Sportsman, DiBenedetto was the deputy editor of Field & Stream. He began his career at Men’s Journal in 1995 as an editorial assistant just three days after graduating college and worked his way to senior editor in 2001.
 
Also an author, DiBenedetto wrote On the Run: An Angler’s Journey down the Striper Coast in 2003 for HarperCollins. The book received numerous accolades, including a coveted starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. DiBenedetto was born and raised in Savannah, GA and now resides in Charleston, SC with his wife, Jenny, and their Boykin spaniel, Pritchard.
 
 

Barbara Bing, Publisher, has had a proven track record as a leader in the media business for over twenty five years.  She joined Garden & Gun as Publisher in January 2010, where she brings a strong understanding of the media marketplace.  Bing has led the magazine to record levels with the October/November 2011 issue being the largest in the magazine's history. Prior to Garden & Gun, Barbara was Founder and President of The Media Company, an independent media sales and marketing company in the southeast that represented prestigious national titles published by companies such as Conde Nast, Time Inc., Meredith, and Hachette Filipacchi. Included in her portfolio were award-winning titles as The New Yorker, New York Magazine, GQ, Gourmet, Esquire, Golf Magazine, SKI, Skiing, House and Garden, Elle Décor, and Outside.

In addition, The Media Company, under Bing’s direction, represented sales exclusively in the Southeast for the launches of popular titles such as Vanity Fair, Details, Allure, and Wired. Barbara resides in Atlanta, GA with her husband Stuart, an accomplished interior designer, and realtor with Harry Norman, Realtors® and her two “kids”, dogs Sophie and Turley.