I am SO SO excited introduce everyone to a weekly column called, Career Confidential. This is where NeonNotebook gets to learn the real dirt about some of the coolest jobs out there. I don’t knowabout you, but we are tired of reading generic BS from “career experts”. So, we are going straight to the horse’s mouth: ladies with the most badass jobs around.
In this week’s column, we chat with one of my best friends, Katie Amey! I couldn’t image a better person to start with. Her answers were so good, that we decided to break this series into 2 parts. The second part will go live Monday (stay tuned…).
Full name: Katie Amey
Position / Job title: Contributor, RealBeauty.com (Hearst Digital Media)
1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I actually wanted to be a doctor when I was in high school, which, for anyone who knows me, knows how insane that is. (It’s now a running joke among my friends.) It’s odd but when I was 7 or 8, I remember telling my mom that I wanted to be a writer, but both she (being a teacher) and I had no idea how to turn that into a real career. (I think I had read a lot of Babysitters Club books and wanted to be Ann M. Martin.) Then, in middle school, I figured out I was kind of good at science and doctor seemed like a ‘respectable career choice,’ so I opted for that road. But after my first year of science, which was horrible for me, by the way, I came to the realization that writer did not necessarily mean novelist and it was something I could feasibly do.
2. Did you have to take on internships to get there? How important in general, do you think, are internships? Oh, did I ever have to take internships to get here. I referred to myself as the ‘perma-intern’ throughout college!
In all, I had six internships: Teen Vogue was first, and to be honest, I credit my career in large part to Eva Chen who is absolutely FANTASTIC and took a huge chance on me (I had no experience when I applied) and is still an incredible mentor to this day. Then, I went on to interne at CosmoGIRL! (R.I.P.), NYLON, Seventeen.com, and Canadian fashion magazine, FLARE (obligatory Maple Leafs statement here, otherwise my family will disown me). Then, I took an internship in New York again at Bauer Publishing, which ultimately led to my first job: as an entertainment editor at J-14 Magazine.
I think that internships are more important in some industries than in others. They are also relatively easy to get once you have the first person say yes (thank you, Eva!) and if you open yourself up to your superiors and are willing to do everything and anything, you will learn so much. Sure, you’re going to have to photocopy pages and maybe go pick up cupcakes for an editor’s birthday in the beginning, but if you take time to read those pages you are photocopying for a story on stress in teens and introduce yourself to the ‘birthday-girl’ editor, I guarantee you that those seemingly mundane tasks will lead to something more.
3. Tell us what a typical work day looks like for you. What is your job REALLY like, both the glamorous and not-so-glamorous parts? It’s tough to give a general work day, because most editors will tell you that days can really differ depending on the month and week (specifically, Fashion Week), but I will try.
Usually, I start work at 10am by going online to find all the latest fashion and beauty news. I look through the press releases I receive via email first, and then I go to WWD, Refinery 29 Beauty, SheFinds, ELLE, Marie Claire, etc. to find out what’s happening in the beauty world. After that, I write up 1-2 news blogs for our ‘Talking Pretty’ section. Then, I usually work on longer posts (such as slideshows, articles, etc.), emailing with publicists for the latest beauty news, images for slideshows, samples, etc.
On most days, I finish work around 5:30 or 6pm, but the day doesn’t always end there. I usually have to attend an event in the evening. Sometimes it’s a beauty launch, or because I do write for other places, sometimes a movie screening, concert showcase, celebrity interview, or red carpet for one of the other titles. Then, if there was something else that evening, I come home, transcribe, write up a post, etc. and get it online for the following morning.
4. Let’s talk about work/life balance. What does that mean to you? Is it important? I think that work/life balance is arguably one of the most important things about your job. I thoroughly believe that you cannot be as effective in the office if you are not happy outside of it.
For me, I think work/life balance is doing things you enjoy and carving out that time for yourself so that you don’t get burnt out. Recently, that has been finding time to exercise, which sounds totally cliché and stupid, but bear with me here. It really helps me to clear my mind and just gives me 45 minutes to an hour of the day where my phone is in a locker somewhere and not attached to me.
As far as finding time to spend with friends, that can also be a challenge. I feel like during the week, I am very over-scheduled and trying to coordinate everyone is hard – especially when after a long day, all you really want to do is go home and watch Awkward (come on, it’s not just me). For me, as well, my two best friends don’t live in New York, so finding time to fly out to see them for long weekends is especially important for me. (And I think I do pretty well with semi-regular trips across the Atlantic and down to the Southern states!)
I think the hardest part about working long hours is finding time, motivation, and A GUY to date. Working in magazines, most of the men are not interested in females (truth) and you have to think outside the box to find eligible bachelors. Because I work in fashion, a lot of my friends do too and I don’t have a lot of straight guy friends to choose from. This is something I’m working on finding, and I’ll let you know when I figure out the secret, because I definitely haven’t yet.
To be continued…check back in on Monday for Part 2.
Leave a Reply