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IN CONVERSATION WITH SYDNEE MONDAY Sydnee Monday is the Associate Editor for Kokila Books under Penguin Random House. Beginning as Editorial Assistant, after two years she advanced to Assistant Editor. Sydnee graduated from Howard University in 2016 with a Communications degree and concentration in Film, Media and Video studies. After completing a few media internships, Sydnee became News Assistant for National Public Radio (NPR) before transitioning over to publishing. This interview has been edited for length and clarity
I know you have a media/film background.
I thought that publishing was just that people wrote
How did you become interested in
books and the company printed them.
publishing?
I hadn’t thought about there being a design team, a
I studied film at Howard, but I needed to pay my rent. I lived close to the NPR building so I applied to the Arts Internship three times. And on the third time, I got it only because I found someone and asked for an informational interview. I was like, "Can I come and chat with you for a few seconds?" And she ended up inviting me into the building and introducing me to the staff. I really think it was because of her that I got that internship and was able to get some face time. And so I got that internship and the entire summer I was basically sorting books. I thought it was really fun because all I had to do was organize books and not talk to anyone. And because of that I got a good sense of
marketing team and all these teams working together to get this book out. I started looking on LinkedIn, and the job that I initially got through Kokila just popped up. I didn’t know it was a Penguin Random House imprint, I just read this mission, “made for and by marginalized people.” I thought this kind of sounds perfect because this is exactly what I've been wanting to talk about with kids books. And so I applied and cold emailed my [current] boss… And I think it’s really because I reached out that I was flagged because I don’t think HR would have flagged me before that.
Was it hard to transition over to publishing
the market through what everyone was sending us
starting later than those who typically do so
for review, and I found myself moving towards kids
straight out of undergrad?
books and wanting to talk about them. But we weren’t doing much coverage of kids books back then.
I noticed it more so in my first year of publishing. It felt like everyone else had a leg up. They either had a couple of internships, or they went to a summer
How did you end up at Kokila Books?
publishing course or graduate program. And I was
I really needed insurance and healthcare and after
coming from very scrappy, any journalism jobs I
about a six-month contract at NPR, one day I was
could get.
like, ‘I should just start looking for jobs in kids books,' I had never known that was an option before.
