Flirting with Danger: The Adventures of a Marie Claire Intern

The Girl With The Green Scarf The Devil Wears Prada

Flirting with Danger The Adventures of an Editorial Intern at Marie Claire Magazine Jrn 5986 Final By: JEssica Johnson

Copyright 2015 by Jessica Johnson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in anyform without written permission from the publisher.

This book (final project) is dedicated to all of the wonderful people I met while interning at Marie Claire. From the security guys to my fellow interns to top editors, each of you have played a significant part in my growth as an individual and media professional. x.

Table of Contents Preface Dear Diary afterword <-- Hearst Tower, Marie Claire is located on the 34th Floor. :)

Preface After applying to at least 40 internships for the fall semester I got an email back for two fashion closet intern positions, one at Redbook Magazine and the other at Esquire. No doubt, I was extremely excited, but overshadowing all of the excitement was fear and doubt. Can I survive in the cut throat world of New York publishing? Am I too old to be an intern?

Yes, I can survive.

No, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re never too old to follow your dreams.

So at 4:30 am, I got up, prayed, showered, got ready, and ran out of the house by 6:10 am to start my journey to NYC. My first interview was with Redbook at 10 am. I made it

there early, which is always great. The interview went well, I left feeling confident as ever. The team at Redbook sounded phenomenal and I hoped I could be a part.

My hangout spot for the day was McDonalds, which is situated just across the street from Hearst Tower. Not only was it perfect because of the location, but the free Wi-Fi was a lifesaver.

Around 1ish I got to have lunch with one of my best friends.

She works just a block over from my McDonalds home base for the day. It was so great to see her and have an NY lunch :), she is definitely someone I admire for not being afraid to leave comfort and tough it out in the big city.

Sometime between lunch and 4:00, I received an email from Marie Claire for an editorial intern working with Jenna Blaha and Nina Garcia.

I met with the Esquire interviewer shortly after and it was

a total 180-degree interview from the morning with Redbook. Instead of sitting down, I talked and the interviewer grabbed coffee, I swear the whole thing took all of 10 minutes, if that.

I headed to the park that sits across from the Hearst Tower, to get a little air and reflect on the whirlwind coffee break interview that just happened. A reply from Marie Claire with the request to interview was in my inbox. I wondered if I should push for the interview to be that afternoon, it was already around 4:45, or should I just make the trip again.

Just as I was contemplating my move, a man rode by on his bicycle singing “I Believe I Can Fly” to the top of his lungs. Most people around looked at him like he was crazy, but me, I appreciated it. This man singing on his bike was a sign. As a little girl I sang the same song over and over to my grandfather. My Papa died when I was 8 years old, and one of the memories my family hangs on to is him watching me perform “I Believe I Can Fly” over and over. He never

made any other requests and never got tired of the Space Jam classic.

So that was it. I had to push for it.

It worked.

I was asked how soon I could make it, and replied “in about a minute or so,” next thing you know I’m headed up to the 34th floor.

The interview went very well, it was really relaxed and I felt like it was the place I needed to be to get where I want to ultimately go.

Afterwards, I headed back home to PA and prayed that the right opportunity would be made available to me.

The next day before noon I heard back from both Redbook and Marie Claire. I was offered an internship at each! But,

how could I choose? The team at one sounded phenomenal, but the role of the other would put me in the direct presence of those running the magazine.

I ultimately chose Marie Claire, not only because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity, but because I believe in spirits and I believe my grandfather was showing me the steps the Lord had already ordered for me.

I am extremely thankful for this blessing, I am now an intern at a top magazine, that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even have a scheduled interview for before heading to the city.

Dear Diary The following is a diary of what I did at my internship. As you will see, there is no “typical day” at Marie Claire.

Week One Tuesday, August 11: Today was my first day at MC. I met Kyle, who is the second assistant to Nina Garcia and got a tour of the office. I was also assigned daily tasks, such as getting coffee, water, and mail. My project for the day was to build an MC library for Kyles desk to have at the ready in case Nina needs to reference past issues of the magazine. To build the library I spent my day in a magazine closet, where the issues date back to 1996.

Wednesday, August 12: Today I learned the check-in/check-out processes for Nina’s clothing, jewelry, shoes, and gifts. We are embarked on a project to make the process go from a inder to digital for better and safer record keeping. PR companies and brands send clothing for Nina to wear hoping they will be pictured in the items. After a certain period of time we send them back. I also set up my new inbox for work, to make sure it is streamlined for the next interns.

Additional things for today- learning how to work the phone and how to “call in” hi-res images.

Friday, August 14: I got my first writing task today, read, edit, and re-write a post for Charlotte Tilbury cosmetics. Additionally, I needed to find pictures on Nina online that represent the MC brand. I’m not sure what the pictures are being used for, but I think I found some good ones, especially since we don’t have to worry about copyright (another department takes care of that). I also did my first run to Nina’s to pick op clothing for a return, my first time hailing a taxi didn’t go so well.

Week Two Tuesday, August 18: Today we worked on expenses for Jenna. It is a tedious and time consuming process, but it has to be done weekly so the receipts don’t build up. I also worked on getting together the day school and after school schedule for Nina’s two boys. At the end of the day I took “the book” (yes it’s a real thing, not something exclusive to only Miranda Priestly) to Nina’s.

Wednesday, August 19: I did my typical my typical tasks today along with a Q&A interview for Nina. The goal is to sound like Nina with all responses, so the interview is in her voice. Other editors work on the interviews as well, so she can pull from the answers submitted and develop her own. I also read through the letters to the editor to see if any are of importance to Nina. The things people care about widely range, but are very interesting. This particular issue has three main points of interest with readers- 1. Republican women, 2. Erica Garner, 3. Use of expletives in a feature story. Nina also wants to leave vacation early so the entire team is in a rush trying to find ways to get her family home.

Week Three: *Monday, August 24: First Day of Class Tuesday, August 25: Compile important news report for Kyle to brief Nina on things that might be of importance to her. We need to find flights to Wyoming and LAX for Nina to be able to go to a friends wedding and make it to the Emmy’s which are happening within 24-hours of each other. This is seeming impossible, but we are trying to make it happen. Also, a new long-term task is assigned to track the social media stats and make notes for all Project Runway judges, hosts, and network accounts.

Wednesday, August 26: Today was a little light compared to others. I didn’t work on any major projects but completed my basic tasks of checking in gifts and clothing. I walked to Nina’s house three times (which is about a 20 min walk, each way) for pick ups. At this time we are also looking for more interns, because the four we have are not enough, since we need at least three interns every day.

Friday, August 28: Today was one that was very trying for me, after having to walk so much and seeing other colleagues do the work I wanted to be doing more of, I’m starting not to like it at MC. I worked on a social media recap today and sourced items for Nina’s Quarterly box for her to choose from, the theme is Travel Essentials. I also found out the Charlotte Tilbury post I worked on didn’t get posted, but that’s really their loss… who would wear wool pants in 90-degree August weather? – See Charlotte Tilbury post on website for more details.

Week Four Tuesday, September 1: We are getting ready for Fashion Week!! Today we got the schedules ready for fashion week and the first batch of invites will start rolling in for shows soon. We also worked on a VMA Trend report to call out any major trends we see happening. And today it finally happened! I started working with Jenna on a MAJOR project. Jenna is interested in pitching a magazine theme to Anne (Editor-in-Chief) about a magazine completely related to tech. For this we need to pull together a list of forward thinking designers, big people in tech for profile pitches, and even tech themed TV shows for the entertainment section. Basically, we need to pull together a mock magazine in order to sell this idea.

Wednesday, September 2: The US Open is going on and Nina had a meeting with Lavassa Coffee, we needed to do a brief on Caroline Wozniaki in order to be sure Nina knows who she is speaking with. We are also working on a project for MarieClaire.com calling in clothes for a Kardashian themed story. Today we found the items we wanted to call in, but have not sent emails to companies yet.

Friday, September 4: Today was very slow due to the upcoming holiday weekend and summer Fridays. We worked more on getting the fashion week schedule squared away and called in the clothing for the Kardashian piece.

Week Five Tuesday, September 8: I have now started working with Jenna on Tuesdays while we are looking for more interns. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just getting the hang of working with her and the regular tasks she needs done, like reading through the New York Times and pulling any important information that is tech related. We also worked on the tech pitch more today, the list of people she wants is changing, but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only because the idea is growing. I have mostly been doing research for this project.

Wednesday, September 9: Still looking for more interns!! I posted the listing on what seems like a thousand sites today, but I think it will be hard to find new people. Most of the internship classes at the major colleges and universities in the city are all filled, which is a problem for us because interns have to be able to receive credit. Today is also the first day of NYFW, eek!! Basically, the office is chaos.

Week Six Tuesday, September 15: Fashion Week is still going on, so yes, we are still in chaos. The closet check-ins/outs have been absolutely ridiculous. The most clothes I’ve ever seen in my life! While I am dog tired, I’m so loving all of the frenzy.

Today I worked more on the tech brief for the pitch, we have to get a binder completed for Anne soon, because the first draft was approved and she would like to see more.

Wednesday, September 16: Today Jenna, Bonnie and I met to discuss big ideas for the Tech Froward issue proposed for January. All of the info is super top secret and I feel like a ninja running around the office, compiling research, and printing it all to put together. It’s so cool to be able to work on this, like literally we are starting something here!

Friday, September 18: More research today! The direction we want to go in is continually changing. I spent half the morning on the phone calling and emailing paper scientists at different universities across the country. We’ve also been looking for future tech ideas, like virtual-reality and 3-D printing. We also continued to build the binder today, for the Monday meeting. Jenna has an amazing pool of resources and we have some great companies wanting to get on board and help with the issue. It’s being called “The Next Big Thing.”

Week Seven Tuesday, September 22: The Monday meeting went well, we are still developing more ideas for the binder. Along with my regular tasks I spent the day looking for futurists and searching for products to add to the binder.

Wednesday, September 23: We worked on shoring up the text for the November tech page. The text was uploaded to InCopy and sent to the art department. We also worked on credits and “thank you” notes for the October Tech Page.

Friday, September 25: Today the team worked on finding products for the Luxe List. The requirements for the list are to be insanely cool, unique, and most of the time so expensive I’m not sure who does this stuff. We are looking for anything from a cool phone case to a one-of-a-kind space excursion.

Week Eight Tuesday, September 29: We are ramping up on the January issue. The topic has been fully approved and we are now scheduling meetings for Jenna with some of the countries top C-level executives at car and tech companies, along with tech conference leaders. I worked on a ton of briefs today for different companies, what they see for the future, and who is their top woman. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Wednesday, September 30: The project from yesterday has continued into today.

We are also looking for products for upcoming tech pages and the luxe list.

Friday, October 2: I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe it is already October! We wont have a Tech Page for December, but I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s okay with me because this January issue is taking over our lives. We have scheduled meetings with CES to discuss who will be showing this year and for insight on tech trends.

Week Nine Tuesday, October 6: Still working on the January Issue. I must say, it is so cool to actually be contributing to this magazine is ways I didn’t think were possible for an intern. I have been tasked with helping to find extreme cover designs for the issue. Some of the ideas I have are VR with Google Cardboard and Electronic Paper. Jenna has proposed a holographic cover, a heat sensitive option, a possible look into the Samsung Gear VR system and if we can work with them, and doing something with a drone. I worked on getting in contact with various companies today about their help with the cover, I’m pretty excited to see where this will go.

Wednesday, October 7: Still working on January! It’s getting super intense, Jenna has weekly meetings with Anne now, to discuss the progress of the issue. This is so actually happening.

Friday, October 9: This morning was absolutely insane, Jenna’s meeting with Anne was today and we had to make sure the binder for January was fully updated. We are also working on finding more products for the Luxe List and a couple of first drafts for online articles. I’m starting to realize the team is actually a family and we are all relying on each other to make it through the mayhem and stay sane. I’m also realizing that I have no clue how Jenna does all of this, I think I would have some serious wrinkles by now.

Week 10 Tuesday, October 13: Today the goal was to get the Pop Art, Wood, and Terminator page mock ups finished. This is proving to be hard as we are falling short on products. The hard part about finding products is that Tech Companies love to be quiet about their new products and we are working about two months, sometimes three, ahead of the current date. Another factor that influences the pages are when the product was made, a lot of the time a product will fit the theme but will have been released two years ago, making it an ineligible item.

Wednesday, October 14: Today I worked on panel brief for Jennaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s upcoming Decoded Tech Conference Panel. She has a call next week that will be the pre-meeting to help develop the conversation for the live panel that will happen at the Decoded Tech Conference.

Week 11 Tuesday, October 20: Today I sat in on the Decoded panel call for Jenna. Her morning meeting ran late and she was unable to do the call. I took notes and then transcribed them for Jenna. I also worked on January a bit today, more products and more people.

Wednesday, October 21: This morning I walked into a surprise, Jenna was helping MarieClaire.com with a Halloween shoot and I was the point person for her on set. I’ve never been to a shoot before but it was a really great time. We had to reschedule quite a few meanings, but honestly I’m a pro at that by now. I also worked on a Whitney Port brief and interview questions for Jenna’s Periscope interview.

Friday, October 23: We are in the last push for January products. Today we found more options for pages and called in a few hi-res images. We also researched trends by Robyn Raskin of CES to add to the issue.

Week 12 Tuesday, October 27: Today I worked on the Decoded panel script and timing.

The script is a list of questions with possible answers. Jenna and I bounced back and forward on this, with me writing, her editing, and me re-writing. I’ve found it’s so hard to write someone else’s voice. MY questions were in the right direction, but I just couldn’t seem to nail Jenna’s voice.

Wednesday, October 28: Decoded Fashion Panel was today, so Jenna was out of the office all day. Another call with Robyn Raskin yesterday put us in a frenzy.

We are currently working on the text for the CES page of the January issue. It’s a struggle to write the descriptions in the MC voice and not be longwinded.

The descriptions have to mention the product and the overall trend, which is another difficult thing to do.

Friday, October 30: This is it, we are closing the January issue . All drafts of text were due today to send to the next step. We stayed until 9 pm trying to get the wording just right, but it was so worth it. We are all going to sleep well this weekend, except Halloween might get in the way of our rest.

Week 13 Tuesday, November 3: Today we worked on the theme pages that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make January. The solar page/wood page and terminator ideas seem pretty strong, but the creation date of products is holding us up.

Wednesday, November 4: We sent the January text off last week, but now we are getting all of the hi-res images for the pages. Each of the companies we have reached out to are sending hi-res images for us to use in the magazine and additional product information so we fact check and back up the text.

Friday, November 6: Another phone call with Raskin has led us to re-open our work on the text. A bag we want to use wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be shown at the CES show this year, but we can find a suitable substitute for the page. I also interviewed two people regarding future internships today.

Week 14 Tuesday, November 10: Today we worked on a fitness themed mock up 3D printing mock up, and mood mock up. We found a lot of products so hopefully one of these themes will make the cut! I also took my first deskside meeting with Swatch to hear about the touch zero one. It’s a new watch aimed at the volleyball crowd. They don’t like to call it a “smart watch” instead they prefer “connected watch.”

Wednesday, November 11: We got the first look at the pages for January and I’m so excited. Some of the products we (the interns) picked actually made the page!! Now if only the text would stop haunting us. We are still working on making the text absolutely perfect and making sure everything is correct.

Week 15 Tuesday, November 17: Today was full of research, I looked into different gaming apps for a potential online article and a new game called Universe. We also continued to work on the February issue text and started compiling product for our March theme. Jenna will be out all day at the NextWeb conference tomorrow, so we spent the afternoon getting her schedule squared away and researching the talks to determine which ones she should attend.

Wednesday, November 18:. Today I worked more on the March tech page. We also spent time trying to clean up Jennaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desk area and properly file tech samples that are sent to her.

Friday, November 20: Thanks to MC being voted audience favorite the entire magazine received the day off. A break well deserved.

Week 16 *Fall Break- While on break I worked from home to help schedule a few meetings and post the winter and spring internship for students to apply.

Week 17 Tuesday, December 1: I can’t believe this is the last week. Due to a medical emergency, Jenna will be in and out of the office a lot this week. We spent the day rescheduling meetings. We also uploaded the text for February into InCopy to be sent to the art department.

Wednesday, December 2: Today was Bonnie’s last day :( We did a couple of interviews for new interns and also scheduled a few more. We redirected on the March products, still within the same theme, but new ideas and products were researched and added today.

Friday, December 4: Today was my last day :( I can’t believe it’s over. I’m going to miss everyone! Today was a regular day though. I rescheduled meetings, worked on the February text backup and organized Jenna’s desk. Jenna was out of the office today, but thanks to her Google Pixel C arriving, I got to go on a run and see her, it was hard not to cry during our goodbyes but we’re planning big things so I’m sure I’ll see her again :). I also got a glimpse of the January Issue and all I can say is “EEEK!” The day ended with a Nobu Happy Hour in the office and an intern Instagram photo-shoot.

The Couch Pic

Afterword

*Posted to my Facebook and Instagram Today was absolutely amazing. Despite leaving my phone at home and having to say goodbye to café 57 and some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, I can honestly say my internship at Marie Claire Magazine gave me more than I could have ever expected. It was totally worth the 5 am alarms, 2.5 hr commute, ridiculous and unpredictable work hours, and stress. Thankful for the experience, lessons learned, and my friends who listened to me complain but saw the bigger picture and wouldn’t let me give up. xo