Elaine Welteroth, a former editor in chief of Teen Vogue who steered the magazine toward social consciousness, wants young people to know that to find success, they should not try to conform.

“Being yourself, you’re going to stand out — you actually cannot help but stand out,” she told students in New York on Monday night in an interview with Jessica Bennett, The New York Times’s gender editor.

“Your unique perspective that no one else can bring should hopefully help empower you to be your full self,” she said.

Ms. Welteroth, 31, who was the youngest person and the second African-American to hold an editor in chief title at Condé Nast in its nearly 110-year history, said that earlier in her career, she tried to conform for the sake of credibility. “I don’t think that I actually reached my potential until I shed that weight,” she said.

There is an opening right now for young people to speak up, Ms. Welteroth said, especially those who are marginalized — whether they be women, people of color or part of the lesbian, gay or transgender community. Giving these people a voice has been her focus since leaving Teen Vogue this year.

Among various journalistic efforts, Ms. Welteroth has shadowed survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., for the TV event “For Our Lives: Parkland,” which she hosted, and moderated a panel this month at The United State of Women Summit.

“If I could choose any time to be young and alive, it would be now,” she told the crowd. “This is your moment.”

Here are some other takeaways from the full conversation, which can be watched here.

‘I was very laser focused’
“I was the girl who just said yes to everything,” said Ms. Welteroth, who grew up in a small Northern California town and was the first in her family to go to college. “There weren’t a lot of people that I grew up with that were dreaming big,” she said.

But she found a role model in the journalist Harriette Cole, a former editor in chief of Ebony whom Ms. Welteroth said she “stalked relentlessly.”

“I was very laser focused,” she said. “For me, it was really about meeting this woman who really inspired me.”

After much persistence, Ms. Welteroth finally got past Ms. Cole’s assistant and spoke with her — “there was so much synergy,” she said. The call solidified her next steps: “I know exactly I want to do. I want to work at a magazine in New York.”

Months later, out of the blue, Ms. Cole called Ms. Welteroth and offered her a gig that led to a position at Ebony. From there, Ms. Welteroth went on to Glamour and then to Teen Vogue as a health and beauty director.

A duty to foster diversity
Ms. Welteroth felt a lot of responsibility to bring cultural awareness to Teen Vogue, she said. “There’s so much opportunity to mean more to this audience,” she said, and to accomplish that, leaders and employees need to represent every kind of person. “That was something I was very diligent about,” she said. “You can’t just change the image or the stories, you need to change the storytellers.”

Journalists have the power to set the cultural agenda, she went on. In addition to telling the truth and laying out the facts, it is a journalist’s job to determine what is newsworthy, she said. “What you get when you have diverse players at the table are different priorities.”

But it is not enough to bring in diverse people, she said; organizations must create an environment where these people can feel safe, and “grow and thrive.”

Noticing themes in day-to-day life
Ms. Welteroth wants college seniors to take a deep breath and know they are not alone in being overwhelmed and stressed. Having an existential crisis is to be expected, she said.

“I was really freaked out. I wanted to be great. I wanted a big life,” she said. “But I didn’t know how to achieve it.”

It was by looking at her day-to-day life that Ms. Welteroth noticed themes emerging — like her love of conversation and of photo albums, which she called her magazines. Through this soul searching, she found professional purpose. “The answers are already there,” she said. “What do you do for free that you love?”