Today I met with Margaret Sebastian, managing editor of the magazines Her World and Shape, the Malaysian edition. I almost wish I was staying here through the end of the summer and could intern with Blu Inc.; Margaret would be a great mentor. She's smart and saavy and knows exactly what she wants. Plus, here I am along with a million other journalism students clawing for an unpaid internship in NYC and Margaret can't find good enough interns. And they're paid! And there's the possibility it'll turn into a job! It's a dream come true. She said she's having trouble because the quality of English is going down among college students, which I found really surprising.
What scared me about the interview is that she totally called my bluff: She said she has trouble finding editors because people's experience shows they had editor titles but don't have the foundation to back it up. Meaning editors need to be good writers first. And that scares me. I wrote so much in high school that by the time I got to college, I was a little burnt out. So I started editing. I loved it so I kept at it. But now that I'm applying for EA positions, I'm worried my resume doesn't show that I can write. (Readers: please don't judge this blog as a reflection of my professional writing). Any advice?
Overall, the meeting was really interesting though. She talked about how it works printing an international title (besides Shape, Blu Inc. also publishes Marie Claire, Men's Health, and Seventeen), covering the country's diverse population, why subscriptions don't work in Malaysia, how she got started (she was an English teacher), changing the Her World focus from 20-30 year olds to 30-40 year olds and why it was a good idea, etc. etc. It was a good reminder of why I want to work in magazines.
Her advice: Don't focus on moving up the masthead. Instead, work hard at your job and figure out who you can learn from.
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