The Summer Job Files: Editorial Intern

The summer before our senior year, WG1 and I each put down a down payment on NYU summer housing before we had even started looking for jobs or internships. We were ballsy to say the least. The both of us just knew we'd find something, anything because we just had to live in New York City.

It will probably come as no surprise to any of you that WG1 and I each had our first real job interviews on the same day. (Yes, it seems we literally do everything together). We both put on our best WG interview outfits and trekked into the city super early, had our interviews, and then celebrated our success by eating a grown-up lunch at Rue 57 (we even had Midori Sours even though I'm pretty sure we weren't 21 yet...scandalous).

While waiting to hear if we had snagged these pretty awesome internships at women's magazines, we started to interview at places we weren't as excited about. I personally interviewed at a publishing company where I was offered a paying job almost on the spot. While I was kinda bummed I still hadn't heard from the glam editorial internship at the women's magazine, I was excited that this job was paying (something the internship was not).

And then a few days later, I got the call from the women's mag I had interview with- I had gotten the internship! I was in! Only downside was that the gig wasn't paid, but unlike WG1 I only had to work 2-3 days a week.

WG1 and I moved into our NYU apartment and instantly became friends with two of our roommates and I have to say that summer was insanely fun and it made me fall in love with NYC. We went out almost every weekend (and weekday), went to museums, tried new restaurants, shopped way too much, and even (kinda) enjoyed living in Chinatown.

While most of our roommates had pretty typical internships, mine turned out to be utterly unique. For starters, since the women's mag that I interned for was relatively new (only 3 years old at the time), we worked out of the editor-in-chief's Upper West Side apartment. My desk was a kitchen table and her dog slept on my feet while I wrote articles on a computer that I was required to stash away in a closet at the end of the night.

My magazine itself was quite small - the editorial team only consisted of four people, two of which were interns. This meant of course that I was able to do a lot of writing and acquired a lot of writing samples. Our magazine also did a lot of smaller events, which is probably where I got my first taste of what it was like to work in event marketing. We made goody bags for Hampton Jitney passengers, worked street corners handing them out, put on a beauty event at Perricone MD, and even worked a fashion show (which I couldn't help out with because school had started womp).

What I loved most about my internship were the people. Since the company was so small, I ended up getting to know my coworkers really well. We all seemed to be very in sync and I loved to come to work just so we could chat, brainstorm, and complain together. We were a little family.

The story of my internship that summer is just beginning, because while I loved the people I worked with, I can't overlook the fact that I worked for the devil. But she didn't wear Prada, she wore vintage.

To Be Continued...