AlthoughAnna Wintour, editor of Vogue magazine and elective trustee of the MetropolitanMuseum of Art, has a reputation for intimidating those who cross her path, itseems like lately we've been seeing a softer side: She generouslysigned "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" catalogues on the last night of thelegendary exhibition and has also made mention of a conversation she had with a Met mailroom employee who loved the show. Forbes, which made the editor number 69 onits 2012 list of most-powerful women, recently found out that Wintour — whoseicy demeanor earned her the nickname "Nuclear Wintour" — doesn't think she's asintimidating as the public makes her out to be.

Wintour's positionon the Forbes list puts her behind pop star Lady Gaga and Huffington Post headArianna Huffington, but ahead of Prada and Miu Miu's Miuccia Prada andNewsweek/Daily Beast editor Tina Brown. When the business publication visitedWintour at Condé Nast headquarters at 4 Times Square, the editor modestlyrevealed that she doesn't consider herself as all that authoritative.

"I don't think ofmyself as a powerful person," said Wintour to Forbes. "You know, what does itmean? It means you get a better seat in a restaurant or tickets to a screeningor whatever it may be. But it is a wonderful opportunity to be able to helpothers, and for that I'm extremely grateful."

As for herintimidating air?

"I assure you allthe people that work with me on a day-to-day basis don't think that," Wintourtold Forbes. "That's just something that's been fabricated by the media. And, asyou well know, once something is out there, particularly in today's world, itjust gets exaggerated. I keep my head down and do the job to the best of myability."

Whatever it is,Wintour certainly knows how to get the job done. She's played a huge role inthe success of the annual Met Ball, and had a hand in bringing McQueen to themuseum, not to mention gained the power to make or break a fashion designer with a single judgment.